Author: Angelo Surmelis
LGBTQ+ Representation: Main characters are gay
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Evan is the only child of Greek immigrant parents: an abusive mother who sees him as a "disappointment" and workaholic father who avoids all conflict. Evan escapes in his art and writes about his pain in his journals, and it takes Evan falling in love with his best friend Henry to realize that he deserves more than his mother's harsh words and physical violence; he is capable and deserving of love.
What I think (in 250 words or fewer): When I was about ten, I read Don't Hit Laurie!, which made a lasting impression because of its vividly terrifying descriptions of child abuse. My mom was NOTHING like Laurie's mom in that book, yet I read it over and over because it was morbidly fascinating and still memorable thirty years later.
I have reviewed books with terrible parents and been horrified by many of them, but none have upset me as much as the way Evan's mom treats him in The Dangerous Art of Blending In.
