Actually, I learned while still in Ecuador. I was three and my grandmother, already in New York, sent me the VHS as a gift. I watched it every day, making my aunt rewind it over and over again, until I could do it myself. I should get her a sweet gift as a thank you.
Sometimes I wonder what it was about this specific movie that enchanted me as a kid. I was already taking English as a second language, but it wasn’t enough. Repeating foreign words in a classroom didn’t mean anything. When I watched the movie, each word came to life. When I moved to New York at age 6 (maybe 7), I don’t remember the transition. I simply remember having complete understanding of what was being said to me in this new foreign school.
I can’t say I wouldn’t have ever learned without The Little Mermaid as a gateway to language, magic, and mermaids—surely I would’ve gotten there somehow—but I’m very glad that it was. I wouldn't be the person I am without it.
Zoraida Cordova was left by some merpeople on the coast of Guayaquil, Ecuador, where she learned to speak English by watching Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker on repeat. She’s been a New Yorker since she was six, and never forgot about her mermaid lineage. She studied with Jaqueline Woodson, Ann Angel, and the late Norma Fox Mazer at the National Book Foundation writing camps. In 2007 she was awarded the Dennis Lehane scholarship to Pine Manor’s Summer Solstice Writing Conference. She majored in English Literature at the University of Montana and Hunter College in New York City.
Here's a little bit more about THE VICIOUS DEEP:
When an unnatural riptide sweeps lifeguard Tristan Hart out to sea for three days and then dumps him back on the shore of Coney Island, it’s the start of the Sea Court claiming its own. Suddenly, Tristan’s girlfriend dramas and swimming championship seem like distant worries as he discovers the truth: he’s a Merman. Now Tristan must fight for his life, the lives of his friends, and his humanity (if he still wants it), while competing in a race for a throne as ancient as the gods.
Seductive, duplicitous, and with an agenda of their own, these are not the mermaids you know
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thanks! <3
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how the author learnt to speak English. I personally learnt it from Buffy The Vampire Slayer episodes! :) Heh.
ReplyDeleteIs this contest US/CA only, or international?
Thanks!
Majanka @ I Heart Reading
That's Cool that you learned from Buffy, good choice of show!
DeleteI love that The Little Mermaid was her gateway into learning English!! That is so awesome!
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds so cool! Thanks for the chance to win it.
ReplyDeletethe book cover and blurb are amazing!! thanks for the chance to read it!!
ReplyDeletei m so excited to read it :D
AWESOME giveaway!I too was a child who lived outside of the US and only spoke spanish. When I came here I taught myself how to read & speak English.
ReplyDeleteLisseth @read-a-holicz.blogspot.com
I love the cover of this book and the title. It really makes me want to read it~!
ReplyDeleteI love that she learned English by watching The Little Mermaid. I'm always happy to find another book about mermaids. Thanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeleteThat's incredible that you could learn English from watching a movie. It does, however, remind me of Darryl Hannah in that movie Splash where she was a mermaid that lived in Manhattan and watched TV during the day while Tom Hanks (?) worked so she could communicate with him. But I never realized people actually do that in real life. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI follow with a different email than my FB one, I follow with dontkillkittens8(at)netscape(dot)net
ReplyDeleteWell I ma quite shocked that Zoraida Cordova is not a native english speaker as her stuff has always been of top quality as far English language is concerned....I am feeling bit lucky to know this fact and her story too..!!
ReplyDelete