Garret Freymann-Weyr

[reviews_and_ramblings]

"I wrote the story for a beautiful picture book called French Ducks in Venice (play the video that the brilliant Erin McGuire made and that the equally brilliant Jeff Freymann-Weyr did the music for).

Normally I write novels for both adults and young adults (a fancy phrase for people who are 12-18, although I have lots of readers who are younger and older than that). In addition to French Duck in Venice, I am the author of My Heartbeat, a Printz Honor book, which is being reissued by Houghton Mifflin in June, 2012. I also wrote Stay with Me, The Kings Are all Here, and When I Was Older. For a long time, I lived in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. and then in a small town in North Carolina.

Now I am living in a lot of different places at once, which can be confusing. Fortunately, my dog, Henry, comes everywhere with me.

I grew up in New York City and miss it everyday. I have an MFA from NYU and I teach writing when I am not writing."

My Heartbeat is a 2002 novel by Garret Freymann-Weyr, about a fourteen-year-old girl who discovers that her brother and his best friend, James, who she has been in love with for years, could be a couple. It was named a Printz Honor book in 2003.

Ellen is a fourteen-year-old girl going into her freshman year of high school in New York City. She has been in love with her brother Link's best friend James for as long as he can remember. She is often invited to come along with Link and James to hang out and James says that when Ellen grows out of her crush on him, it will "break his heart." Ellen soon finds out that Link and James are a couple and is very surprised. Her mother is okay with her son being gay, but her father is not. Link denies being gay, but James tells Ellen that both of them are. James also reveals that he has slept with other men to make Link jealous. Link ignores Ellen and James for a while because he is embarrassed and in denial of his orientation and does not want to be confronted. In the meantime, James and Ellen begin dating, but then agree to break up before James goes off to college.

Further Readings:

My Heartbeat by Garret Freymann-Weyr
Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 and up
Paperback: 176 pages
Publisher: Speak; English Language edition (December 29, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0142400661
ISBN-13: 978-0142400661
Amazon: My Heartbeat
Amazon Kindle: My Heartbeat

Ellen loves Link and James. Her older brother and his best friend are the only company she ever wants. She knows they fight, but she makes it a policy never to take sides. She loves her brother, the math genius and track star. And she is totally, madly in love with James, with his long eyelashes and hidden smiles. "When you grow out of it," James teases her, "you will break my heart." Then someone at school asks if Link and James might be in love with each other. A simple question. But the answer is far from simple, and its repercussions affect their entire lives. This extraordinary, multiple award-winning novel is funny, heartbreaking, and messy—just like its characters, just like life.

More Spotlights at my website: http://www.elisarolle.com/, My Lists/Gay Novels