#maria andreu

[dosartistas]

Marià Andreu, La Comedia dell’Arte, 1926, oil on canvas.

[2021ya]

LOVE IN ENGLISH

by Maria E. Andreu

(Balzer + Bray, 2/2/21)

9780062996510

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A fresh, compulsively readable novel about finding your voice—and your heart—in any language. Sixteen-year-old Ana has just moved to New Jersey from Argentina for her Junior year of high school. She’s a poet and a lover of language—except that now, she can barely understand what’s going on around her, let alone find the words to express how she feels in the language she’s expected to speak. All Ana wants to do is go home—until she meets Harrison, the very cute, very American boy in her math class. And then there’s her new friend Neo, the Greek boy she’s partnered up with in ESL class, who she bonds with over the 80s teen movies they are assigned to watch for class (but later keep watching together for fun), and Altagracia, her artistic and Instagram-fabulous friend, who thankfully is fluent in Spanish and able to help her settle into American high school. But is it possible that she’s becoming too American—as her father accuses—and what does it mean when her feelings for Harrison and Neo start to change? Ana will spend her year learning that the rules of English may be confounding, but there are no rules when it comes to love. With playful and poetic breakouts exploring the idiosyncrasies of the English language, Love in English tells a story that is simultaneously charming and romantic, while articulating a deeper story about what it means to become “American.”

[tumbl-reads]

Maria Andreu, author of The Secret Side of Empty (July 2015), explores the meaning behind '#QuietYA' and the motivations driving (surely) every writer. It's such a pleasure to host this piece on my...

So, if a book falls in a forest of other books and it doesn’t make any best sellers’ lists, win any of the big awards or have Hollywood knocking at your door, is it a book that matters?  The obvious answer for the author of what can be defined as a “quiet book,” is yes, of course.  Although I’d be lying if hearing it for the first time didn’t feel a bit like being the plainer girl at the prom being told that she looks really nice and everyone is special in her own way while the girl with the bounciest, golden curls and the Neiman Marcus dress gets named prom queen.  It was like knowing you weren’t the prettiest girl there but hoping no one had noticed, only to have someone come up and say that pretty isn’t everything.

But, of course, the thinking behind the #QuietYA hashtag is that it’s important to look beyond the surface of what seems to be doing well in YA to discover the books that may surprise you.  The things that often catch our eye and put a book on our radar – flashy bookstore placement, big name blurbs – can sometimes have less to do with merit and more to do with marketing budget and connections.  Which is not to say that books that get the attention don’t deserve it.  (My heart swells with the beautiful words and stories we have available to us today).  It’s only to say that they’re not the only ones.

[midnightmusicmuppet-blog]

Book Scores: The Secret Side of Empty & That Home

Book Scores: The Secret Side of Empty & That Home

Imagine if books had their own scores. That’s what I attempt to do in this feature. Every week, I pick a book and pair it with what I feel is an appropriate song. Come and join in on the fun! (more…)

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