Tag Archives: debut novel

May 29 2014

Book Review: The Secret Side of Empty by Maria E. Andreu

By Stephanie Guerra

18079898DESCRIPTION FROM THE BOOK JACKET: M.T. is undocumented. But she keeps that a secret. As a straight-A student with a budding romance and loyal best friend, M.T.’s life seems as apple-pie American as her blondish hair and pale skin. But she hides two facts to the contrary: her full name of Monserrat Thalia and her status as an undocumented immigrant.

But it’s getting harder to hide now that M.T.’s a senior. Her school’s National Honor Society wants her to plan their trip abroad, her best friend won’t stop bugging her to get her driver’s license, and all everyone talks about is where they want to go to college. M.T. is pretty sure she can’t go to college, and with high school ending and her family life unraveling, she’s staring down a future that just seems

In the end, M.T. will need to trust herself and others to stake a claim in the life that she wants

Told in M.T.’s darkly funny voice and full of nuanced characters, The Secret Side of Empty is a poignant but unsentimental look at what it’s like to live as an “illegal” immigrant, how we’re shaped by the secrets we keep, and how the human spirit ultimately always triumphs.

MY TWO CENTS: This is an ambitious book, taking on a range of powerful topics including immigration, domestic abuse, and suicide. Maria Andreu approaches her themes head on and unflinchingly. Her writing is raw and honest, and as a result, the book engages at a deeper level than the average YA.

Monserrat Thalia, or M. T., is a conflicted, loveable character and a convincing portrait of a teen struggling with the challenges of “illegal” immigrant status. M. T. is from Argentina, but her desire for rootedness, her grief, and her uneasy relationship with America and Americans all speak to common threads experienced by immigrants from many cultures. As M. T. approaches high school graduation, the differences between her situation and that of her friends emerge in stark contrast: because of her undocumented status, she has no possibility of a degree, and no chance for a job and the trappings of a “successful” life. Meanwhile, her friends are college and career bound.

As M. T. grows increasingly bleak about her dead-end future, even contemplating suicide, her father enters his own spiral of immigration-related frustration, inadequacy, and violence. The book raises provocative questions: When does disciplinary hitting cross a line into abuse? How frequently or severely must violent episodes occur to justify a call for help? What are the products of intersecting adult insecurity, fear of deportation, cultural background, and violence?

I applaud Maria Andreu for taking a courageous look at all these questions through a snapshot of M. T.’s senior year. Andreu’s writing is clean and accessible with sharp-edged wit and darkly ironic undertones sure to appeal to teen readers. Characterizations are strong, with a special flair for finely drawn secondary characters. Best of all, no easy answers are offered. This book calls for thoughtful discussion, and is ideal for illuminating and humanizing an experience that many readers understand only through media coverage and political debate.

Maria AndreuAUTHOR: Maria E. Andreu is the author of the novel The Secret Side of Empty, the story of a teen girl who is American in every way but one: on paper. She was brought to the U.S. as a baby and is now undocumented in the eyes of the law. The author draws on her own experiences as an undocumented teen to give a glimpse into the fear, frustration and, ultimately, the strength that comes from being “illegal” in your own home.

Now a citizen thanks to legislation in the 1980s, Maria resides in a New York City suburb with all her “two’s”: her two children, two dogs and two cats. She speaks on the subject of immigration and its effect on individuals, especially children. When not writing or speaking, you can find her babying her iris garden and reading post apocalyptic fiction. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT The Secret Side of Empty, visit your local library or bookstore. Also, check out worldcat.org, indiebound.org, goodreads.com, amazon.com, and barnesandnoble.com.

May 1 2014

Book Review: Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott

By Edith Campbell17343397

DESCRIPTION FROM THE BOOK JACKET: Sam has the rules of slackerhood down: Don’t be late to class. Don’t ever look the teacher in the eye. Develop your blank stare. Since his mom left, he has become an expert in the art of slacking, especially since no one at his new school gets his intense passion for the music of the Pacific Northwest—Nirvana, Hole, Sleater-Kinney. Then his English teacher begins a slam poetry unit and Sam gets paired up with the daunting, scarred, clearly-a-gang-member Luis, who happens to sit next to him in every one of his classes. Slacking is no longer an option—Luis will destroy him. Told in Sam’s raw voice and interspersed with vivid poems, Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott is a stunning debut novel about differences, friendship, loss, and the power of words.

MY TWO CENTS: Sam is a teen who once had much going for him but has decided to give up on everything after his mother dumps him with her parents and leaves. Sam now wants to also disappear by becoming a slacker. He’s got the slacker rules down pat and he follows them quite well until the new guy, Luis, is assigned to sit near him in every single class. Everyone assumes Luis is a gangster; after all, his brother is.

Flores-Scott writes to teach the power of words and the obliterating effect of silence. Sam finds comfort in the music of Nirvana. His sadness is echoed in the gray, wet landscape that surrounds him in Seattle. The humor and optimism of his grandparents emphasize what a jerk Sam is becoming. Luis appears in poetic form and he while he really isn’t much more than a thought, a poem in the story, his presence changes Sam. We never really know what’s going on in young people’s minds, do we? Flores-Scott captures their inconsistencies as he writes about so many characters who seem one way but act another. Rupe and Dave were Sam’s touch stones, but even they grew and changed in ways Sam wasn’t quite prepared for.

The writing will attract students who don’t often find themselves in books, those who try to disappear as well as those who are fascinated by the power of language. Some of the short chapters themselves look like poems. I wanted to slow down the story and clean up the ending. I wanted the parrot to go ahead and scream “goodbye Sam” and for Sam to be OK with that. I wanted to add “Trayvon” to the graffiti on the cover because that young man in the hooded green jacket reminds us all how our young boys in hoodies too often disappear.

Jumped In was listed on YALSA’s 2014 list of Best Fiction for Young Adults and as a Favorite Chapter Book by the International Reading Association.

AUTHOR: Patrick Flores-Scott was born and raised in the Snoqualmie Valley (just east of Seattle). He studied theatre at the University of Washington and ended up getting a teaching certificate as well. He spent years working as a reading specialist by day while writing and acting in plays in his free time. While teaching at a middle school in Des Moines, Washington, he was inspired to write a novel that reflected his students’ lives, something that his struggling readers would able to enjoy, something he might have enjoyed all the years he was a struggling reader. Jumped In is his debut novel. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.

FOR MORE INFORMATION about Jumped In, visit your local library or bookstore. Also, check out worldcat.org, indiebound.org, goodreads.com, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and Henry Holt/Christy Ottaviano Books.

 

Edith CampbellEdith Campbell is a mother, librarian, educator and quilter. She received her B.A. in Economics from the University of Cincinnati and MLS from Indiana University.  Her passion is promoting literacy in all its many forms to teens and she does this through her blog, CrazyQuiltEdi and in her work as an Education  Librarian at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. Edith currently serves as the IN State Ambassador for the United States Board on Books for Young People and is a past member of YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults selection committee.