New book puts Latino characters in ‘Frankenstein,’ ‘Hamlet’ and ‘The Great Gatsby.’ Here’s why

Imagine the creature in Frankenstein replaced by a mermaid or Hamlet launching into outer space. And instead of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Gatsby, there’s Isabella, a young girl who travels to an island off the coast of Costa Rica.

These stories are among the classics reworked in a new book to ensure more youth read stories by and about Latinos. West Sacramento author Sandra Proudman, 35, spearheaded the effort, recruiting more than a dozen diverse Latino writers to each produce their own contemporary twist on canonical tales.

The ultimate goal was simple: increase representation in children’s literature.

“Having stories for our Latino community empowers them (children) and gives them the ability to see themselves on the page and as the heroes in their own stories,” Proudman said.

The children’s book publishing industry remains overwhelmingly white, according to the Cooperative Children’s Book Center at the University of Wisconsin. In 2023, only about 8% of books published for young readers were about Latino people and 11% had at least one Latino creator.

But that’s still a significant increase from years prior when Proudman and other Latino authors were growing up. In 1994, only 2% of children’s books were either by or about the Latino community.

“A huge part of moving the needle towards the right direction is continuing to provide a space for authors to keep writing,” Proudman said.

Stories where Latinos can feel seen

The increase in publishing representation comes thanks to younger writers like Zoraida Córdova, a 36-year-old author featured in the 352-page hardcover book “Relit: 16 Latinx Remixes of Classic Stories” (HarperCollins, $20.99).

Córdova, who was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, started writing at 13. She completed her first novel by 19, and has since written more than two dozen books and short stories. Her writing generally centers on the science-fiction genre, with mainly Latino or Ecuadorian characters as a way to highlight her own upbringing.

“There is a lot of representation in the contemporary space, but it feels like it’s always the same sort of narrative,” Córdova said. “There’s the immigration narrative. There’s the poverty narrative. But for me, I want to write in the fantastical space.”

Her story in “Relit” remixes the story of Frankenstein, replacing the sapient creature with a mechanical mermaid made by a young scientist living in a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by climate change. Córdova said she writes hoping readers come away with their own interpretation, but said she wrestled with the question of creating life and then trying to control it.

Proudman said each writer was given leeway to tell their struggles of the Latino experience and tell a deeper meaning.

“They incorporated it into the story in a way where people could feel seen but also be healing in a certain way,” she said.

Proudman’s story reworked “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway, in what she called an ode to immigration and family separation. The main character is a young girl, Mimi, who is torn between finding resources for her sick mother or going to find her lost father.

Proudman, who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and came to the U.S. as a baby, said she thought of the many children enduring or who have endured family separation when writing.

“It’s really about familia and making sure your familia is there for you, you can depend on them and you can not take the burden of life on your own shoulders,” she said.