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“When I Was Puerto Rican” by Esmeralda Santiago

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LGBTQ Latnx Students Share 12 Must-reads’ glsen.org

Recommended by Marisa: This coming of age memoir recounts the tumultuous young life of Esmeralda Santiago. This book gave me insight into my culture as a Boriqua. Growing up in Henderson, Nevada, I had no clue what being “Mexi-rican” (as I called it when I was young) was truly about. This book gave me visions of ripe mangoes and the sound of coquis at night, the feeling of sleeping on the earth, rather than a mattress, and riding a bike through the island, instead of traveling through the Las Vegas strip in a car. When I was a young child contemplating my identity, this book helped me gain an intimate understanding on my Latinx background.

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