It’s no secret to anyone who’s ever talked YA lit with me- including my current bosses who watched me ugly-cry when describing this book during my job interview- that Benjamin Alire Saenz’s 2013 Printz Honor, Pura Belpre Award and Stonewall Award-winning Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is one of my all-time favorites. The combination of those three awards alone is a remarkable statement about Saenz’s writing and is an intriguing combination of accolades- general literature awesomeness, Latino lit and GLBT lit- has any YA book ever written for and brought together these three audiences to such great effect? I think… no.
Here’s his interview on NPR earlier this year with Michel Martin about writing Aristotle and Dante for Mexican-American boys coming to terms with their sexuality and, in turn, giving his own young self the gift of understanding, acceptance and love. I’m tearing up just thinking about this one again. Enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment