In this post, we feature author Aida Salazar, whose previous titles include The Moon Within, which was named an NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Honor Book, among many other awards. You can hear her speak about her recent title, Ultraviolet, and try her “invitation to imagine” activity. You’ll also find other resources to explore. Thanks for joining us, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
Ultraviolet
- Written by Aida Salazar
- Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.
- Release date: April 2, 2024
In the spirit of Judy Blume, award-winning author Aida Salazar tells it like it is about puberty, hormones, and first love in this hilarious, heartwarming, and highly relatable coming-of-age story. For Elio Solis, eighth grade fizzes with change: his body, teeming with hormones; his feelings, which flow like lava; his relationship with Pops, who’s always telling him to man up, the Solis way; and especially Camelia, his first girlfriend. But then, betrayal and heartbreak send Elio spiraling toward revenge, a fight to prove his manhood, and defend Camelia’s honor. He doesn’t anticipate the dire consequences, or the fact that Camelia’s not looking for a savior. Written in free-verse poems, Ultraviolet digs deep into themes of consent, puberty, masculinity, and the emotional lives of boys, and along the way, challenges stereotypes and offers new ideas of how to to be in the world.
From Ultraviolet, written by Aida Salazar.
“Who invented love, anyway?”
Click here to view a longer preview of Ultraviolet, written by Aida Salazar.
Explore Ultraviolet
Listen to Aida Salazar talking with TeachingBooks about creating Ultraviolet. You can click the player below or experience the recording on TeachingBooks, where you can read along as you listen, and also translate the text to another language.
- Listen to Aida Salazar pronounce her name.
- Sample the ebook of Ultraviolet on OverDrive.com.
- Sample the audiobook of Ultraviolet on OverDrive.com.
- Explore TeachingBooks’ collection of activities and resources for Ultraviolet.
Invitation to Imagine
TeachingBooks asks each author or illustrator on our Virtual Book Tour to share a writing prompt, a drawing exercise, or just an interesting question to spark curiosity and creativity. Enjoy the following activity contributed by Aida Salazar.
Imagination Activity with Aida Salazar
Write a persona poem or short passage from someone else’s perspective. Think about someone or something that you saw on your way to school this morning. It could be anyone: a woman at a bus stop, your parent, your bickering sibling, a cross guard, a street vendor, your frenemy, etc. But it can also be anything: a stop sign, a cat crouched in a bush, a cloud, a flower, etc. Think deeply about that person or thing and imagine what it must feel like to be that person or thing. Imagine what it is they see, do, or experience. What would they say?
Write a free-verse poem from that person or thing’s perspective, beginning with the phrase, “I am not who you think I am.” Convince us about their inner world, that they aren’t what the world sees from the outside.
Note to teachers: This is a writing prompt on empathy and writing the other but also an exercise of the imagination. Students are encouraged to think deeply about what it must be to someone entirely different from themselves. This exercise will help them practice thinking and dreaming about the circumstances and conditions that might contribute to the creation of the other and ultimately, how we can try to understand those outside ourselves.
Finish This Sentence . . . with Aida Salazar
As part of our Virtual Book Tour, TeachingBooks asks authors and illustrators to complete short sentence prompts. Enjoy Aida Salazar’s response.
“My protagonist can’t live without…”
My protagonist, Elio, can’t live without his piano and his headphones. He lives for music! It is where he escapes, expresses his inner most feelings, and sets himself free.
“I hope my book may encourage readers to think about…”
I hope Ultraviolet encourages young people to think about how we respond when we lose someone or something or are hurt. What are ways we can honor our wounded feelings without retaliating with harm or violence? What are ways we can move through the world with more tenderness for ourselves and others?
More Connections to Aida Salazar and Ultraviolet
- Discover books like Ultraviolet on TeachingBooks.
- Scholastic’s page about Ultraviolet, written by Aida Salazar.
- Buy Ultraviolet, written by Aida Salazar.
Author photo is by Lluvia Higuera. All other text and images are courtesy of Aida Salazar and Scholastic, Inc. and may not be used without expressed written consent.
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