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Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed: 15 Voices From The Latinx Diaspora

Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed: 15 Voices From The Latinx Diaspora

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Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed: 15 Voices From The Latinx Diaspora

Author(s)

Saraciea J. Fennell

Publisher

Flatiron Books

Genre(s)

Age Range

13+

Release Date

November 02, 2021

ISBN

978-1250763426

Buy This Book

In Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed, bestselling and award-winning authors, as well as up-and-coming voices, interrogate the different myths and stereotypes about the Latinx diaspora. These fifteen original pieces delve into everything from ghost stories and superheroes, to memories in the kitchen and travels around the world, to addiction and grief, to identity and anti-Blackness, to finding love and speaking your truth. Full of both sorrow and joy, Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed is an essential celebration of this rich and diverse community.

The bestselling and award-winning contributors include Elizabeth Acevedo, Cristina Arreola, Ingrid Rojas Contreras, Naima Coster, Natasha Diaz, Saraciea J. Fennell, Kahlil Haywood, Zakiya Jamal, Janel Martinez, Jasminne Mendez, Meg Medina, Mark Oshiro, Julian Randall, Lilliam Rivera, and Ibi Zoboi.

Editor reviews

2 reviews

Wild Tongues Can't Be Tamed

August 15, 2021 (Updated: August 16, 2021)

Overall rating

5.0

Writing Style

N/A

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

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Learning Value

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What worked: Rich collection of essays from fifteen Latinx authors on finding one's identity. I loved these tales, where Latinx authors shared their own experiences and discoveries.

Some of my favorites:

The Mark of a Good Man by Meg Medina. She shares her family history of being Cuban. When an uncle comes to the states, whispers from family circulate on what happened to him while in Cuba.

Eres Un Pocho by Mark Oshiro. Haunting, raw portrayal of a queer brown male navigating his own identity in a white world. This essay was powerful as Oshiro starts at age seven with questions others ask of who is is to later in life when he learns to love himself.

The Land, the Ghosts, and Me by Cristina Arreola. An important part of Arreola's identity was coming to terms with the dead in her life. This was important to her not only a person, but as an El Pasoan, and a Latina. I really loved this essy as it shows the power of drawing from one's ancestors through such customs as remembering them. The author leaving presents for her dead mother reminds me of my own ofrenda, altar, I put together for my mother who passed. The beauty of this custom is shown throughout this essay.

There's more in this engaging portrayal of authors sharing their own pasts and how they learned to embrace who they were and not what society expected of them. I totally loved how many of these essays resonated with me.