You Brought Me the Ocean - by Alex Sanchez (Paperback)

About the Book

Jake Hyde yearns for the ocean and is determined to leave his hometown in New Mexico for a college on the coast, and while his family and friends encourage him to stay, he must deal with his secrets of being gay and some strange new blue markings on his skin giving him a glow when he touches water.

Book Synopsis

The voices that shaped LGBTQ Young Adult literature, Lambda Award-Winning author Alex Sanchez (Rainbow Boys) and New York Times bestselling illustrator Julie Maroh (Blue Is the Warmest Color), present a new coming-out romance and origin story for Aqualad.

Jake Hyde doesn't swim--not since his father drowned. Luckily, he lives in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Yet he yearns for the ocean and is determined to leave his hometown for a college on the coast. His best friend, Maria, however, wants nothing more than to stay in the desert, and Jake's mother encourages him to always play it safe.

There's nothing "safe" about Jake's future--not when he's attracted to Kenny Liu, swim team captain and rebel against conformity. And certainly not when he secretly applies to the University of Miami. Jake's life begins to outpace his small town's namesake, which doesn't make it any easier to come out to his mom, or Maria, or the world.

But Jake is full of secrets, including the strange blue markings on his skin that glow when in contact with water. What power will he find when he searches for his identity, and will he turn his back to the current or dive headfirst into the waves?

About the Author

Alex Sanchez has published eight novels, including the American Library Association "Best Book for Young Adults" Rainbow Boys and the Lambda Award-winning So Hard to Say.

His novel Bait won the Tomàs Rivera Mexican-American Book Award and the Florida Book Award Gold Medal for Young Adult fiction.

He has a master's degree in guidance and counseling and worked for many years as a youth and family counselor.

Julie Maroh is a French writer and illustrator of graphic novels. They wrote and illustrated the New York Times bestselling Blue Is the Warmest Color about the life and love of two young lesbians, which has been adapted into an award-winning film.

After having obtained an applied arts baccalauréat at E.S.A.A.T in Roubaix, Maroh continued their studies in Brussels, where they lived for eight years. They earned two diplomas there, in Visual Arts (comics option) in the Institut Saint-Luc and in Lithography/Engraving at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts of Brussels.