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Katie Van Ark
Passion on the page

Summer Reading #4: Natalia Sylvester’s Breathe and Count Back from Ten

9/5/2022

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What are holiday weekends for if not one last summer beach read? Breathe and Count Back from Ten is a little outside my usual romance wheelhouse, a YA novel with a romantic thread as opposed to a YA romance novel. (Yes, I loved the Harry Potter series but you know I was waiting the whole time for Hermione and Ron to finally get together because who couldn’t see those sparks!) However, the cover flap copy drew me in: “Verónica has always dreamed of being a mermaid.” Mermaid Cove, the fictional place in the book where Verónica dreams about performing as a mermaid, is based on a real place, Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida. I confess to having this dream, too, albeit on a much farther back-burner than Verónica. Like her, however, the water was a place where I felt at home during my childhood and early teen years. For Verónica, it’s because she can move freely there despite her hip dysplasia. For me, it was a place where I could keep up with other kids even though I was overweight. (Although I also had hip dysplasia, mine was corrected with a brace when I was a baby.) I never wanted to get rid of my legs, but getting paid to wear a sparkly fin and play pretend sounded awesome.
Verónica’s journey to become a mermaid, though, is about so much more than just scoring the job. Through this story of a disabled immigrant teen’s dreams and wishes, Sylvester makes you think about so many issues including bullying, ableism, slut shaming, and consent - both sexual and medical. Her love interest, Alex, is on his own journey combatting depression, and his art is very cool. Ultimately, my favorite character was Geoff and his @Phin journey - hooray for merpeople. Pick this one up when you’re looking for something beautifully real and relevant.
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    I love few things better than a bottomless to-read list of books and firmly believe the world has room for all the stories we want to share. This blog is intended to provide resources and spark discussion about improving writing. Opinions are my own and not intended to discredit anyone else's work, only to open conversation. Thanks for reading!

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