Northwest St. Johns County resident Caridad Ferrer writes novels for young adult readers. MTV Books published her first novel, Adios to My Old Life, in 2006 and will be releasing her second novel, It's Not About the Accent, in August. MARK PETTUS/My St. Johns Sun
By MARK PETTUS
mark.pettus@mystjohnssun.com
The final installment of the Harry Potter saga will land in book stores this month and if you’re wondering what your teen or pre-teen should read next, Barbara Caridad Ferrer has a couple of suggestions.
Ferrer writes novels for the young adult market, but unlike the decidedly British Harry Potter, her characters have a distinct Latina flair. Ferrer is a first generation Cuban-American. Her friends call her “Barb,” but MTV books asked her to use her more Latin-sounding middle name, “Caridad,” as a pen name. They published her first novel, Adios to My Old Life, in 2006, and her second, It’s Not About the Accent, is due out in August.
In June, she and her husband bought a home in Julington Creek Plantation and moved their family to St. Johns County. The house is still filled with unpacked boxes, but Ferrer is already back at work writing her next novel.
After MTV published Adios to My Old Life, it placed second at the Florida Writers Association’s Royal Palm Literary Awards. Then it was named Latinidad’s Top Teen Read for 2006. This weekend, Ferrer is in Dallas for the annual conference of the Romance Writers of America. Tonight the organization will hand out its prestigious RITA awards, and Adios to My Old Life is a finalist in two categories: best first book and best contemporary single title.
An editor at Dial Press read Adios and was so impressed that she sought out Ferrer with the idea for her third young-adult novel, an adaptation of the opera, Carmen. The story is a classic love triangle. Carmen is a gypsy who attracts and entices a soldier named Don Jose, who falls in love with her, gives up his regimented life, betrays his superiors and sacrifices everything he’s known — for her.
“My Don Jose will be a drum major in the drum and bugle corps, and my Escamillo is a soccer player,” said Ferrer, who explained that for her young readers the murder would be replaced by some other tragic turn of events. Her books are aimed at a slightly older reader than the Harry Potter books, but she says the murder of a teenager character is not how she wants to end her book.
Her second book, It’s Not About the Accent, which MTV will release next month, tells the story of Caroline Darcy, a teenage girl who decides to reinvent herself as Carolina, a half-Cuban aspiring actress, when she goes off to college.
Adios to My Old Life is the story of Ali Montero, a talented 17-year-old Cuban-American girl whose father is a music professor in Miami. When Ali makes the finals in a Latina version of American Idol, her father disapproves. But Ali feels compelled to defy him, because when she is singing and playing the guitar, she forgets all her problems and dreams of being a star.
Before Ferrer’s children were born, she taught fourth grade. Since starting a family she has home-schooled her own children. Now she’s decided that they need to attend public schools and wants them to attend the very best schools available. She says her research lead her to the St. Johns County School District, and that is why they moved to Julington Creek Plantation.
“I didn’t want to send them to [a private school] and have my daughter come home and tell me, 'Mom, I need a Mercedes, because all my friends have them,’ but I wanted them to go to a great school,“ she said.
