YA Materials, Literature Log, Book #6: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

 Title: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Author: Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Category: LGBTQ+


Aristotle, who goes by Ari, and Dante aren't who you would expect to be friends. Ari's angry, conflicted about his feelings and the fact that his older brother is in prison for years and his parents refuse to talk about it. Dante's intelligent, and a little strange--at least, he has no other friends. But through spending together, the boys grow close one summer, their lives change, and they begin to feel a deeper connection.


I loved this book far more than I expected to. It has actually been on my to-be-read list for several years, as I'd heard praise for it, so I was glad to get the chance to read it--and I was blown away! Ari and Dante are two fully realized characters whose emotional journeys are so fraught, Ari's especially, that I think teens will have no choice but to relate to them. I think this book could be a great Pride Month read, and also be used to celebrate Mexican-American culture. Also, this novel could be used as a great exercise to show teen boys that it's okay to express their feelings, and to have them at all. I would very much recommend this novel. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

YA Materials, Literature Logs, Book #20: Dear Martin

Title:  Dear Martin Author:  Nic Stone Category:  YALSA's Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Justyce is an intelligent boy in his senior year of high school at a private, highly acclaimed school. That doesn't matter, though, when one night he finds himself the victim of racial profiling when he was simply trying to get his drunk girlfriend home. Even months later, Justyce suffers from painful memories of handcuffs being snapped around his wrists and the fear he felt that night. In an attempt to combat this racial injustice, Justyce begins to write letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and tries to "live like" him when he can. However, the more time goes on, the more Justyce notices racial microaggressions everywhere at his predominantly white school, and he can't sit by and let it happen, not after what he experienced. Dear Martin is such a powerful book, much like Long Way Down . Its characters feel real, like kids that really exist in many communities all over
Read more

YA Materials, Literature Log, Book #11: The 57 Bus

  Title:  The 57 Bus Author:  Dashka Slater Category:  YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults title On a bus trip home from school, the skirt of agender teenager Sasha was set on fire by another teen, Richard. The two did not know each other, and went to different schools. Richard and his friends, who dared him to set Sasha's skirt on fire, thought it was funny that they looked like a boy dressed as a girl, and Richard impulsively caused damage. He did not intend for Sasha to be hurt as badly as they were. This book covers the lives of both teenagers before the incident, Sasha's recovery in the hospital, and the court case that followed, as Richard was charged with hate crimes for his actions. I must admit, I had not heard of this event before choosing this book to read this semester, and I found it very interesting. Through reading the book, I feel like I gained an understanding of both Sasha and Richard, and how nuanced things like this are. I feel that this book cou
Read more

YA Materials, Literature Log, Book #15: Girl in the Blue Coat

Title:  Girl in the Blue Coat Author:  Monica Hesse Category:  Historical Fiction Hanneke lives in Amsterdam in 1943, surviving by smuggling black market goods to wealthy clients in order to provide for her mother and disabled father. She's good at what she does, though she has never taken the time to dig past the black market trade into the revolution she knows is happening under the noses of the German invaders now occupying her city. However, when one client asks Hanneke to find a teenage Jewish girl she was hiding, Hanneke's drive to solve the mystery leads her straight to the heart of the revolution, and to finally see the pain that is being caused all over Amsterdam. I am very glad that I read this novel! I've read a great deal of WWII fiction, though none besides this one set in Amsterdam, and I found it interesting to get a peak into life in the city during German occupation. I found Hanneke to be a little self-centered at times, but I loved seeing her growth. I thi
Read more