Today we’re spotlighting The Chismosas Only Book Club by Laekan Zea Kemp!
Read on for more about the author and the book!
About the Author: Laekan Zea Kemp
Laekan Zea Kemp is a writer living in Austin, Texas. Her debut novel, Somewhere Between Bitter and Sweet was a 2022 Pura Belpré Honor recipient and her most recent novel, An Appetite for Miracles won the Jean Flynn award for YA fiction. The Spanish translation of her debut picture book, Una Corona para Corina was named a Campoy-Ada Award Honor book and her picture book Desert Song was awarded the Tomás Rivera Book Award in the Young Readers category for 2025, as well as the Brigid Erin Flynn Award for Best Picture Book from the Texas Institute of Letters.
She has three objectives when it comes to storytelling: to make people laugh, cry, and crave Mexican food. Her work celebrates Chicano grit, resilience, creativity, and joy while exploring themes of identity and mental health.
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About the Book: The Chismosas Only Book Club
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants meets Mexikid in this heart-warming novel with illustrations about four friends and the magical bookstore that holds them together.
Cat, Sofia, Ana, and Mari are best friends. Nothing, nada, can break their bond. When Cat’s mom scolds them for their loud cackling at the bookstore, calling them a bunch of chismosas, the name sticks. Cat creates the The Chismosas Only Book Club, giving the girls a way to stay connected as they begin high school.
But ninth grade is hard, and it seems like no amount of conchas y libros y risas at Milagro’s Books, founded generations ago by Cat’s great-great-great-grandmother, can repair the ever-growing cracks in their friendship. But maybe the spirit of Milagro herself can . . .
Brimming with whimsy and heart, and woven with black-and-white graphic novel chapters, this enchanting book celebrates the magic of friendship, the embrace of ancestors, and the power of stories to hold us together.
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~Excerpt~
Chapter 2 – Ana
Ana was not normally a rule- breaker. She earned straight A’s and always made her bed. She showed up to work at the family restaurant on time, sometimes staying late, and she never stole cash from the tip jar. She never cursed. She never complained. And she never snuck out late at night to break into the local bookstore with her friends without telling her father first.
For months, she’d been looking forward to honors classes and Robotics Club and collecting the kind of achievements that would make her college applications sparkle. But the closer she got to the first day of high school, the more she itched to gather the weight of her responsibilities and heave them over a cliff.
Helping her younger sisters (aka the Littles) with their homework. Making dinner for her ’lita and the Littles while her parents worked late. Picking up extra shifts every time one of the other waitresses called in sick. Translating every phone call with the bank or the school or an unruly customer. She wanted to roll it all up like the giant bales of hay that lined the roadsides leading into Nueva Rosita and then roll it right down into the deepest canyon she could find.
Rosalinda, the heroine in Sinner’s Isle, could relate.
Ana knew Cat would pick a book they would all love, but the arrival of this story was as strangely serendipitous as the flicker- ing lights at Milagro’s that always greeted them as they stepped over the threshold. Opening Rosa’s story felt like stepping over a threshold too, one that tempted Ana to open doors she’d never dared open before, to dream of a grand escape.
Once the girls were safe inside Milagro’s bookstore, they got to work laying out blankets and clicking on electric candles and doling out delicious snacks.
Mari reached for the bag of hot Cheetos. “Okay, but, like, can you believe in chapter twenty- five, when— ?”
Cat snatched it out of her hands. “Not yet, Mari! You know the rules.”
Mari gnashed her teeth at her.
Ana tried to hide her laughter. Mari was often a menace when it came to Cat’s (many) rules, but Ana had always admired how unafraid Mari was of being herself, of eating an entire bag of hot Cheetos without a single sip to drink, of saying the word “no.”
Mari gnashed her teeth at her.
Ana tried to hide her laughter. Mari was often a menace when it came to Cat’s (many) rules, but Ana had always admired how unafraid Mari was of being herself, of eating an entire bag of hot Cheetos without a single sip to drink, of saying the word “no.”
“It’s our last meeting before school starts,” Cat argued. “Let’s do it right. First, we cleanse the space. Then we drink from el río.” Mari stuffed the piece of concha into her mouth. “Eat the flesh of our ancestors.”
Sofia swatted her. “Be serious.”
Cat cleared her throat, continuing. “Then Sofia reads our cards.
And then we discuss the book.”
Mari rolled onto her back in defeat. “All right, all right!”
As much as Ana admired Mari’s defiance, there was also a part
of her that appreciated Cat’s routines. Because they meant she always had a place. Which meant she never had to worry— about being left out or left behind. And the last thing Ana needed was more to worry about.
While Mari continued to lie at Ana’s feet like a dead beetle, Sofia dumped out her backpack, cards spilling in a pile in the cen- ter of their prayer circle; Ana poured sparkling water into plastic champagne glasses; and Cat pulled a bubble gun from her backpack and got to cleansing.
Excerpt from The Chismosas Only Book Club by Laekan Zea Kemp; illustrated by Heidi Moreno. Copyright © 2026 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers. Reprinted with permission.
Title: The Chismosas Only Book Club
Author: Laekan Zea Kemp
Illustrator: Heidi Moreno
Release Date: 5/26/2026
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR
Genre: Middle-Grade, Friendship, Latinx Culture, Coming of Age
Age Range: 10+
