Love in English

January 4, 2021
The teen love triangle at the center of this warm and humorous novel by Andreu (The Secret Side of Empty) is threaded with experiences that accompany acclimation to a new school and country. When 16-year-old narrator Ana moves with her family from Argentina to a New Jersey suburb, English feels like a “troll that won’t let me do anything until I pay him a price I can’t cover,” despite the fact that she studied the language growing up. The transition results in awkward moments for the teen—as when she announces in the cafeteria “I like the... buns? And sausage?”—but she soon befriends Altagracia, a gay Dominican American girl with influencer aspirations; Neo, a sweet kid from Greece; and Harrison, a friendly, WASPy local in need of math tutoring. Refreshingly, Ana is torn between two guys who are both fundamentally kind, though the school has its share of build-the-wall bullies. But as a budding poet (her journals punctuate the chapters), Ana’s real love affair is with language itself. Andreu captures Ana’s cultural and linguistic roller coaster with eloquence and precision, as Ana wonders “if learning one language doesn’t sometimes mean forgetting a little bit of another,” a process described as bittersweetly as coming-of-age itself. Ages 14–up. Agency: Alloy Entertainment.

Starred review from December 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-When 16-year-old Ana moves from Argentina to New Jersey, she works hard to learn English and fit in at her new high school. No matter how much effort she puts into her studies, though, she is still caught in moments of confusion, as teachers and classmates talk rapidly and sprinkle their speech with American idioms. When she meets Harrison, a handsome, blonde-haired boy in her math class, Ana begins to come out of her shell, making more of an effort to communicate. She and her new Spanish-speaking friend, Altagracia, devise a plan, and Ana happily starts worrying about the things typical to high school juniors. As Ana makes progress with English and expresses herself through her poetry, she develops a close friendship with Neo, a Greek Cypriot boy from her ESL class, who enlists her to watch 1980s movies and take trips to New York City. Just when Ana feels she is settling into life in her new country, she is forced to reevaluate her priorities. Andreu creates a realistic portrait of the obstacles facing English language learners in the United States. By cleverly blocking out portions of text, she mimics what language sounds like to the ears of someone who has not yet achieved fluency. Her characters are nuanced and their interactions endearing. Teenagers and adults alike will gain necessary perspective from reading this accessible story about a topic that affects millions. VERDICT An engaging novel about language, culture, and empathy. Highly recommended for all libraries.-Karin Greenberg, Manhasset H.S., NY

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2020
A story about immigration, language, and finding one's voice. Sixteen-year-old Ana and her mom have recently emigrated from Argentina to New Jersey to reunite with Ana's father after three long years apart. As she starts her junior year of high school, Ana grapples with new, fraught relationship dynamics with her dad and his insistence that they speak only English at home as well as with the heartbreaking move away from family and friends to a new country while possessing only a basic level of English. But as she settles in and meets new people at school, including Spanish-speaking Altagracia, a fabulous Instagram influencer; cute all-American Harrison; and Neo from ESL class, a friendly Greek Cypriot, Ana starts to believe that everything may well turn out fine. Ana is a writer of poetry and lover of words, and the book features some of her quirky, thought-provoking poems about learning the ins and outs of the English language. The novel, focusing on Ana's experience as a documented immigrant, effectively explores the character's struggle to navigate unlike cultures and languages while she learns to communicate in English, discovers different facets of herself, falls a bit in love, and ultimately finds her footing--and her voice--in the U.S. Ana is White and Argentinian, and Altagracia is a Latinx lesbian. A wholesome immigration story with a healthy dose of romance on the side. (Fiction. 14-18)

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February 1, 2021
Grades 9-12 After Ana and her mother come from Argentina to live in New Jersey with her father, she's nervous about starting her junior year, although she knows she will have a special class to learn English. After a disastrous first math class, she can't wait to go to ESL, where she can speak Spanish with the teacher and students. But the students in the class are from all over the world; they can't understand one another, let alone the teacher, who speaks only English. As the class goes on, however, Ana loves to contemplate and absorb the English language. Poems that explore the quirks, idioms, and inconsistencies of English blossom throughout the narrative, adding dimension to Ana's character. As she learns to navigate a new language, she's also navigating a new culture, reconciling her new way of life with her old family ways and working toward a compromise with her strict parents. Andreu bases Ana's story on her own experiences as an immigrant teen, and she depicts Ana with authenticity and grace.

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May 1, 2021
A first page almost entirely in Spanish gives any readers who aren't fluent in the language a taste of what sixteen-year-old Ana, who has recently immigrated to the U.S. from Argentina, experiences regularly. This story of her transition to a New Jersey high school focuses largely on language. Any portion of the English dialogue that Ana doesn't understand is spelled out in hash marks ("I'll hand ######## paper with ########"), forcing readers to piece together information just as she must. Her confusion slowly gives way to a love for English, shown through her interspersed poetry. Along with the humor in Ana's observations about language ("who are the Benjamins, anyway, and why is it all about them?"), the story provides plenty of rom-com moments, as she finds herself in a love triangle. Though the book touches on the prejudice experienced by many immigrants, Ana herself is rarely on the receiving end (her skin is light, which the book acknowledges will "work in [her] favor here"). The majority of the novel is an entertaining, even joyful, read, presented in Ana's expressive voice; an author's note encourages readers to decide for themselves whether the narration is translated into English or told in retrospect by an older, more fluent Ana. Shoshana Flax

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2021
A first page almost entirely in Spanish gives any readers who aren't fluent in the language a taste of what sixteen-year-old Ana, who has recently immigrated to the U.S. from Argentina, experiences regularly. This story of her transition to a New Jersey high school focuses largely on language. Any portion of the English dialogue that Ana doesn't understand is spelled out in hash marks ("I'll hand ######## paper with ########"), forcing readers to piece together information just as she must. Her confusion slowly gives way to a love for English, shown through her interspersed poetry. Along with the humor in Ana's observations about language ("who are the Benjamins, anyway, and why is it all about them?"), the story provides plenty of rom-com moments, as she finds herself in a love triangle. Though the book touches on the prejudice experienced by many immigrants, Ana herself is rarely on the receiving end (her skin is light, which the book acknowledges will "work in �her] favor here"). The majority of the novel is an entertaining, even joyful, read, presented in Ana's expressive voice; an author's note encourages readers to decide for themselves whether the narration is translated into English or told in retrospect by an older, more fluent Ana.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)