Ander & Santi were here :

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Title :

Ander & Santi were here : a novel / Jonny Garza Villa.

Title:

Ander & Santi were here :

Varying Form of Title:

Ander and Santi were here

Author:

Garza Villa, Jonny

Format:

Books

Physical Description:

viii, 355 pages ; 22 cm

Edition:

First edition.

ISBN:

9781250843999

Production / Publication Information:

New York : Wednesday Books, 2023.

Summary:

Nonbinary teen Ander is ready to leave their family's taquería and focus on their art, but when Santi, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, begins to work at the restaurant, the two teens spark a romance made complicated by immigration police.

Target audience note:

Ages 14-18.

Language:

English

Genre:

Novels.

Subject Term:

LGBTQ+ people -- Fiction.

Love -- Fiction.

Mexican Americans -- Fiction.

Noncitizens -- Fiction.

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Item Barcode	Location
Book	Searching... Andover - Memorial Hall Library	TEEN FICTION GARZA VILLA	31330009323647	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Burlington Public Library	YA GARZA	32116003985484	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Carlisle - Gleason Public Library	TEEN GARZA VILLA	32117002186058	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Dracut - Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library	YA/FIC/GARZA VILLA	31482003084350	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Georgetown Peabody Library	YA FIC VILLA	32120001430402	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groton Public Library	YA GARZA VILLA	37003702004814	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Groveland - Langley-Adams Library	YA FIC GARZA VILLA	32121000955795	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Haverhill Public Library	YA/GARZA VILLA J	31479007620635	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Ipswich Public Library	YA FIC GARZA VILLA, JONNY	32122003037789	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Littleton - Reuben Hoar Library	YA F VILLA	39965002441946	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Lowell - Pollard Memorial Library	YA FIC GARZA VILLA	31481005723775	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Methuen - Nevins Memorial Library	YA VIL	31548003480002	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Middleton - Flint Public Library	Y VILLA	32126001908271	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... North Andover - Stevens Memorial Library	TEEN VILLA	31478010226398	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Tewksbury Public Library	TEEN FICTION VILLA	32132003385856	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... West Newbury - G.A.R. Memorial Library	YA GAR	32135001616347	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Westford - J.V. Fletcher Library	YA F GARZA VILLA	31990005262048	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

A STONEWALL YOUNG ADULT HONOR BOOK

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe meets The Sun is Also a Star in this YA contemporary love story from Jonny Garza Villa, Ander & Santi Were Here , about a nonbinary Mexican American teen falling for the shy new waiter at their family's taqueria.

Finding home. Falling in love. Fighting to belong.

The Santos Vista neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas, is all Ander Martínez has ever known. The smell of pan dulce. The mixture of Spanish and English filling the streets. And, especially their job at their family's taquería. It's the place that has inspired Ander as a muralist, and, as they get ready to leave for art school, it's all of these things that give them hesitancy. That give them the thought, are they ready to leave it all behind?

To keep Ander from becoming complacent during their gap year, their family "fires" them so they can transition from restaurant life to focusing on their murals and prepare for college. That is, until they meet Santiago López Alvarado, the hot new waiter. Falling for each other becomes as natural as breathing. Through Santi's eyes, Ander starts to understand who they are and want to be as an artist, and Ander becomes Santi's first steps toward making Santos Vista and the United States feel like home.

Until ICE agents come for Santi, and Ander realizes how fragile that sense of home is. How love can only hold on so long when the whole world is against them. And when, eventually, the world starts to win.

Reviews (3)

Publisher's Weekly Review

U.S. immigration policies complicate a relationship between two queer San Antonio, Tex., teens in this fervent drama by Garza Villa (Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun). When not working at their tita's taqueria, called Lupe's, 19-year-old nonbinary Mexican American artist Ander Martínez spends their time painting murals throughout the neighborhood. After they spot new hire Santiago taking a selfie with one of Ander's creations, they're immediately drawn to him. Despite Ander's mother's protestations against the teens getting involved, Ander and Santi pursue a blissful romantic relationship, one that allows Ander to open up about conflicting feelings surrounding their art and future goals. Following a harrowing run-in with ICE agents, Ander worries about what Santi's undocumented status could mean for their relationship. As Ander and Santi try to figure out what comes next for them, a devastating incident threatens to separate them for good. Through the teens' tender courtship and Ander's identity exploration, as depicted through descriptions of their unapologetically queer and Mexican art, Garza Villa provides a critical examination of government surveillance and its effect on immigrant residents in this blistering tale of enduring love and communal care. Ages 14--up. Agent: Claire Draper, Bent Agency. (May)

Kirkus Review

Explores love and growing up viewed through artistic lenses. Ander is a nonbinary Mexican teen who's currently working at his family's restaurant on the Westside of San Antonio. They've decided to take the year before entering the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to dedicate themself to their art, including pursuing a youth residency through Beautify Not Gentrify, a local organization. What's not so great is that their parents consider it more of a year off without purpose. Tired of feeling like they have to prove themself to their parents and dominant society through the authenticity and validity of their artistic expression, Ander often seeks comfort in their best friends, a tightknit group of queer teens who are often the highlights of the scenes in which they appear. From the beginning, Ander is aware of the huge impact U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its politics have had in their community, but so far, it has never hit very close to home. This changes when they become involved with Santiago, an undocumented teen from Mexico. Suddenly even their sense of self becomes shaken as they start to reconsider everything around them. Although the young couple's relationship is loving, the pace initially moves very slowly, making it difficult to sustain readers' interest. However, the close friendships help bind the narrative together. A relevant coming-of-age journey for patient readers. (author's note) (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Nineteen-year-old Mexican American artist Ander, who is nonbinary and gay, is taking a gap year off before they enroll in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Instead, they are staying in San Antonio, having accepted a residency with an organization called Beautify Not Gentrify, which has them painting murals all over the city. "Everything about the art I get to do feels like me: Mexican, queer, and done in a way that's loudly and proudly both," they say. And yet they're conflicted; their adviser at SAIC tokenizes them, insisting that they only paint work with Mexican motifs, but Ander refuses to be put into a box. And then they meet Santi, the new waiter at their family's restaurant, and it's love at first sight. And there is no conflict here, for Santi returns their love. With both Santi and making art to love, Ander's life is perfect until they learn that Santi is undocumented and is then taken by ICE agents to be sent back to Mexico. Ander cannot imagine a life without Santi, but what are they to do? In Santi, Garza Villa has done a superb job of verisimilitude, taking their readers into the precarious life and circumstances of an undocumented teen. Too, the love between the two teens is beautifully realized without a false note, proving that Garza Villa is as much an artist as Ander.