Cristina Rhodes is an associate professor of English at Shippensburg University and a scholar of Latinx children's and young adult literature and media.

Her book, tentatively titled Facing Uncertain Futures: The Transformative Possibilities of Latinx Youth Literatures, establishes analytical frameworks to read and understand the ways Latinx and Latin American youth are propelled into futuristic circumstances and face the looming socio-and-geopolitical concerns that would bar them from moving forward. As a minoritized community, Latinx youth are less likely to have access to social, political, and economic capital. Not to mention the microaggressions and outright racism and xenophobia they experience that put them at physical, mental, and emotional risk. Sociological and political studies conclude that, while there are many aspects that have improved with regard to Latinx youth, there is still much to be done to gain equity. Thus, this book contends that because a more equitable future within which Latinx youth can thrive is yet to be accomplished, literature offers a fictional glimpse into how things could go.

Cris is the co-editor of the collection Comidas, Cocinas, y Cultura: Food in Latinx Children's and Young Adult Literature, and is the Book Review co-editor for the open access journal Research on Diversity in Youth Literature. She serves as a co-chair of the Américas Award committee.