cover image My Heart Underwater

My Heart Underwater

Laurel Flores Fantauzzo. Quill Tree, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-297228-6

In Southern California, Filipina American high school junior Corazon “Cory” Tagubio is stuck. She wants to make her Catholic immigrant parents proud (“I fight to climb back into the moment. To be the version of me that would make them happy”) and to act on her overwhelming romantic feelings for her white history teacher, Ms. Holden. All at once, her life comes crashing down: her father falls into a coma following a workplace accident, and Cory’s mother catches her and Ms. Holden crossing the line between student and teacher. Cory is promptly sent to the Philippines, where she stays with her older half-brother, Kuya Jun, whom she has only met on Skype. Feeling abandoned and alone, Cory slowly grows into herself, discovering different kinds of support through familial bonds and new friendships. This emotionally powerful YA debut sensitively portrays the tension between Cory’s American upbringing and attempts to stay true to her cultural roots. A first-person narrative peppered with largely untranslated Tagalog and Taglish adds a refreshing authenticity to Fantauzzo’s richly textured world. Ages 14–up. [em]Agent: Andrea Morrison, Writers House. (Oct.) [/em]