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Sarah Mai

@smaibird

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✹ Author and Illustrator
✹ FRESHMAN YEAR
✹ THE COOL CODE & THE COOL CODE 2.0

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

SOOO pleased to share that I will be a Young Adult Presenter at the 2024 Harbor Sprigs Festival of the Book!! 📚 September 27-29 I will be chatting about Freshman Year, comics, art making, and all things books. Let’s just say I am SUPER excited about the lineup this year and cannot wait to meet everyone 🙉

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Hmmmm how does this happen so quickly I wonder 🤔
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#freshmanyear #graphicnovel #lbyr #yalit #comics #drawing #illustration #christyottaviano #ink #newbook

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A fab review from School Library Journal! ✨ Clueless, overwhelmed, and existential are perfectly descriptive words for this period. Thank you @sljournal for the kind pull quote! 😊
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#freshmanyear #littlebrown #lbyr #graphicnovel #ink #comics #yalit #college #review #slj #christyottaviano

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We’re finally here!! ⭐️FRESHMAN YEAR publication day!! ⭐️Copies are on shelves NOW!!✨

This moment is a little surreal, to say the least. A year ago I thought I would surely have something awesome written for this moment, but now that its here I still feel a little dumbstruck. I started working on this book six years ago in a graphic novel class (seven if you count all the original doodles) and slowly developed it over the following years. This project is incredibly personal, which has felt scary at times but is also the best part. While writing, I thought of this as an act of empathy and care for my younger self, and I hope it has that effect on those who read it.

Without the know-how and support of @lorinowicki and @clairemorance at @paintedwords this project would not have seen the light of day. My wonderful, whip-smart editor Jessica Anderson @christyottavianobooks shepherded me into something resembling confidence as it took form, which is something I will be forever grateful for. My wonderful friends and family were patient enough to listen to me mull over ideas and concerns over and over. Some of them also let me write them into the book, which was cool of them, and a strange thing for me to do.

This has been my ultimate life goal since I was a little kid and I am feeling a wild mix of emotions that it happened at all. I am so so very lucky. 💕💕 Happy pub day FRESHMAN YEAR!!

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One 1️⃣ day until FRESHMAN YEAR !!! Oh man. We’re packing up the family minivan, lying awake all night long, hoping we haven’t forgotten anything important…. It’s actually happening tomorrow!!!
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#freshmanyear #college #yalit #comics #graphicnovel #comicbooks #booklaunch #littlebrown #lbyr

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Two 2️⃣ days !!!! Ah!!!! Till college !!! Ahh !!!!!!
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#freshmanyear #college #yalit #ya #booklaunch #graphicnovel #comics #comicbooks #lbyr

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Three 3️⃣ days left!!! Have you fallen asleep in your besties basement with the tv on? Driven to the bluff and watched the sunrise while eating hash browns? Kissed your crush goodbye for the summer? Run around barefoot in the dewy grass?
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#freshmanyear #college #littlebrown #lbyr #graphicnovel #newbook #yalit #ya #comics

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Four 4️⃣ days until we stand in an empty dorm room for the first time 😬
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#freshmanyear #college #yalit #ya #graphicnovel #newbook #booklaunch #lbyr #comics

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Five 5️⃣ days until we’re off to college… have you driven around in corn fields with your friends from home? Stayed up all night in your bedroom reminiscing? Have you talked to your mom? Have you mourned your childhood?
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#freshmanyear #yalit #ya #comics #graphicnovel #newbook #booklaunch #reading #lbyr

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Six 6️⃣ days until college !!! Have you enjoyed the pastoral splendor of the landscape between your hometown and college, perhaps pondered great mysteries of life while gazing out upon the horizon?

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Seven 7️⃣ days until college… have you gotten your dorm stuff yet? Bought your shower caddy and shower shoes? Your XL twin bed fitted sheet? Your bunk bed clip on reading light? Mini fridge? Microwave? Snacks? Futon?
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#freshmanyear #college #graphicnovel #yalit #newbook #booklaunch #comics

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Eight 8️⃣ days til college! Have you done your orientation modules online? Did you sign up for your classes? Have you messaged your future roommate?
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#graphicnovel #college #yalit #ya #freshmanyear #newbook #comics

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