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Mohrbooks Literary Agency
Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
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www.chris-baron.com

ALL OF ME

Chris Baron

Ari has body-image issues. After a move across the country, his parents work selling and promoting his mother's paintings and sculptures. Ari's bohemian mother needs space to create, and his father is gone for long stretches of time on "sales" trips.
Meanwhile, Ari makes new friends: Pick, the gamer; the artsy Jorge, and the troubled Lisa. He is also relentlessly bullied because he's overweight, but he can't tell his parents - they're simply not around enough to listen.

After an upsetting incident, Ari's mom suggests he go on a diet, and she gives him a book to help. But the book - and the diet - can't fix everything. As Ari faces the demise of his parents' marriage, he also feels himself changing, both emotionally and physically. Here is a much-needed story about accepting the imperfect in oneself and in life.

Chris Baron is a professor of English at San Diego City College. He's also the author of the (adult) poetry collection, Lantern Tree, which was published as part of a poetry anthology, Under the Broom Tree, winner of the San Diego Book Award. He lives in San Diego, California, with his wife and their three children. All of Me is his first novel.
Available products
Book

Published 2019-06-11 by Feiwel & Friends

Book

Published 2019-06-11 by Feiwel & Friends

Comments

I LOVE THIS BOOK. A moving and raw story that will stay with me.

[A] beautifully written and psychologically acute debut. Readers will be glad to accompany Ari on his journey to self-discovery.

Baron's writing is quick-witted and full of depth, allowing complicated characters to navigate growing up, identity and struggling with heavy things - not just body image and bullying but absent parents, self-harm, faith, first loves, interrupted friendships and more. The book is compelling, hopeful and a total page-turner.

Astute and stun-ning. All of Me is high-ly rec-om-mend-ed and offers an elo-quent and often-heart-break-ing glimpse into the expe-ri-ences of a lay-ered, com-plex and relat-able pro-tag-o-nist. Read-ers will sure-ly root for Ari as his sto-ry unfolds.

Baron's free-verse poetry is immediate and lyrical, allowing us access to Ari's thoughts and feelings in a way that prose would not. Baron's first-person narration allows the reader to experience Ari's pain and revelations, both of which are balanced with moments of grace and beauty... highly recommended for readers of all ages.

In page after page of gorgeous verse, Chris Baron tells a story of hard-won healing, self acceptance, and hope.

Ari's story of love and loss and learning to live life on his own terms broke my heart and put it back together again. Beautiful and necessary!

Beautifully written, brilliant, and necessary.

Chris Baron's gorgeous debut shines with strength, vulnerability, and humor. Ari's journey to self-acceptance is hopeful and inspiring.

ALL OF ME is A Southern California Independent Booksellers Association BESTSELLER! BookRiot Best Children's Books about Kindness Nerdy Book Club 2019 Award, Novels-in-Verse A Literacious Favorite Middle-Grade Book of 2019 A National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Notable Book

A powerful story, beautifully told. Highly recommended.

Tackling such difficult subjects as anti-Semitism, self-harm, and family instability with heart-breaking honesty and grace, All of Me deftly explores the complex layers of what it means to come of age. Baron's evocative verse beautifully expresses the depth of Ari's feelings; he will be a lifeline to anyone unsure of how they fit in the world.

If you have ever felt lost in the world, betrayed by your body or buoyed by a glimmer of hope or the glow of friendship, then All of Me could be your story, too.

All of Me is for anyone who has been in search of a tribe, in love with a friend or in need of answers to questions that they can't bring themselves to ask. In other words, everybody.

Any reader who has felt like an outsider will be drawn to Ari's story, which means his audience should be legion.