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The House on Mango Street

The House on Mango Street is one of the most cherished novels of the last fifty years. Readers from all walks of life have fallen for the voice of Esperanza Cordero, growing up in Chicago and inventing for herself who and what she will become. “In English my name means hope,” she says. “In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means waiting.”

Told in a series of vignettes—sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous—Cisneros’s masterpiece is a classic story of childhood and self-discovery and one of the greatest neighborhood novels of all time. Like Sinclair Lewis’s Main Street or Toni Morrison’s Sula, it makes a world through people and their voices, and it does so in language that is poetic and direct. This gorgeous coming-of-age novel is a celebration of the power of telling one’s story and of being proud of where you’re from.

More Non-Juvenile Books

  • In Our Migrant Souls, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Héctor Tobar offers a profound exploration of Latino identity in contemporary America. He addresses the historical and social forces shaping this identity while giving voice to the frustrations and aspirations of young Latinos, who have navigated a landscape marked by division and misunderstanding.

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  • "In the ongoing contest over which dystopian classic is most applicable to our time, Octavia Butler's 'Parable' books may be unmatched."--The New Yorker

  • In Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond explores the paradox of poverty in one of the wealthiest nations, revealing how affluent Americans contribute to the plight of the poor while benefiting from systemic inequalities. Through a blend of historical analysis and original reporting, Desmond argues for a collective effort to address poverty and envisions a future where shared prosperity and true freedom are attainable for all.

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  • A stunning visual homage to Black bookstores, featuring a selection of shops around the country alongside essays that celebrate the history, community, activism, and culture these spaces embody, with an original foreword by Nikki Giovanni. Black literature is perhaps the most powerful, polarizing force in the modern American zeitgeist. Today—as Black novels draw authoritarian ire, as Black memoirs shape public debates, as Black polemics inspire protest petitions—it’s more important than ever to highlight the places that center these stories: Black bookstores. Traversing teeming metropolises and tiny towns, Prose to the People explores a these spaces, chronicling these Black bookstore’s past and [...]