1930s
20th century
20th century fiction
20th century YA fiction
A01=Colby Cedar Smith
Age Group_Ages 12+
Age Group_Ages 12+
arranged marriage
Author_Colby Cedar Smith
automatic-update
Biography
books for girls age 10-16
Category1=Kids
Category=YDP
Category=YFT
coming of age
COP=United States
debut
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
dreams
eq_bestseller
eq_childrens
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_teenage-young-adult
equality
family
fiction
France
freedom
French
Great Depression
Greece
Greek
heritage
historical
historical 20th century fiction
historical 20th century YA fiction
historical fiction
historical United States 20th century fiction
historical United States 20th century YA fiction
historical United States fiction
hunger strikes
identity
immigrant parents
immigration
independence
Language_English
Michigan
novel in verse
PA=Available
poetry
politcal unrest
Price_€10 to €20
PS=Active
riots
romance
siblings
softlaunch
teen
tradition
verse novel
ya books for girls
YA fiction
YA verse
Young adult
young adult fiction
Product details
- ISBN 9781524865450
- Weight: 651g
- Dimensions: 155 x 231mm
- Publication Date: 14 Oct 2021
- Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
- Language: English
- Age Group: Ages 12+
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An enchanting novel in verse, Call Me Athena captures one young woman’s struggle for independence, equality, and identity as the daughter of Greek and French immigrants in tumultuous 1930s Detroit.
Mary lives in a tiny apartment in Detroit in the 1930s with her Greek and French immigrant parents, her brothers, and her twin sister, and she questions why her parents ever came to America. She yearns for true love, to own her own business, and to be an independent, modern American woman—much to the chagrin of her parents, who want her to be a “good Greek girl.”
Mary’s story is peppered with flashbacks to her parents’ childhoods in Greece and northern France; their stories connect with Mary as they address issues of arranged marriage, learning about independence, and yearning to grow beyond one’s own culture. Though Call Me Athena is written from the perspective of three profoundly different narrators, it has a wide-reaching message: It takes courage to fight for tradition and heritage, as well as freedom, love, and equality.
Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit is a beautifully written novel in verse loosely based on author Colby Cedar Smith’s paternal grandmother, creating a historically accurate portrayal of life as an immigrant during the Great Depression, hunger strikes, and violent riots.
Mary lives in a tiny apartment in Detroit in the 1930s with her Greek and French immigrant parents, her brothers, and her twin sister, and she questions why her parents ever came to America. She yearns for true love, to own her own business, and to be an independent, modern American woman—much to the chagrin of her parents, who want her to be a “good Greek girl.”
Mary’s story is peppered with flashbacks to her parents’ childhoods in Greece and northern France; their stories connect with Mary as they address issues of arranged marriage, learning about independence, and yearning to grow beyond one’s own culture. Though Call Me Athena is written from the perspective of three profoundly different narrators, it has a wide-reaching message: It takes courage to fight for tradition and heritage, as well as freedom, love, and equality.
Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit is a beautifully written novel in verse loosely based on author Colby Cedar Smith’s paternal grandmother, creating a historically accurate portrayal of life as an immigrant during the Great Depression, hunger strikes, and violent riots.
Colby Cedar Smith grew up in the Midwest, and she still dreams of the cold northern woods and the smell of lake water. She holds degrees from Colorado College and Harvard University. She has been a finalist for the The Iowa Review Poetry Award, the New Letters Poetry Prize, and the Colorado Prize for Poetry, and a semifinalist for the 92Y “Discovery” Boston Review Poetry Prize. In 2020, Colby received a NJ Individual Artist Fellowship in Poetry. Her poems have been published in Bellevue Literary Review, Harpur Palate, Mid-American Review, Pleiades, Potomac Review, Saranac Review, and The Iowa Review. Colby lives with her husband and two children in Hopewell, New Jersey, and teaches creative writing at the Arts Council of Princeton. You can read more of her work at www.colbycedarsmith.com.
