Libertad
by Bessie Flores Zaldívar
High School    Dial    432 pp.
8/24    9780593696125    $19.99
e-book ed.  9780593696132    $10.99

High school senior Libertad lives in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, in the lead-up to the country’s fraught 2017 presidential election. Libertad’s attempts to understand her blossoming feelings for her best friend, Camila, and her own family history become intertwined with her growing understanding of the tensions between student protest movements and the government. Her close bond with her older brother helps navigate challenges in her friend group and as she considers leaving Honduras to attend college in the United States. She turns to poetry and to new friendships to try to make sense of the difficult events in her present and in her family’s past. The novel provides an invaluable lens to help readers understand the human toll exacted when democratic governments seek to quash the voices of their citizens. It amplifies complicated and underrepresented recent Honduran history, whose themes resonate on a broader scale, and it increases representation for Honduran narratives, which remain relatively scarce in mainstream U.S. publishing. Debut author and Tegucigalpa native Zaldívar’s deeply personal storytelling centers Libertad’s humanity, as well as that of her family members. Readers experience Libertad’s own journey through her first-person narration and creative expression, and in her relationships with her blood relatives and chosen family. An author’s note establishes personal connections and fills in history since 2017.

From the ">November/December 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.