Chicken Soup for the Girls Soul was my go-to book as a teenager. We all know how rough our teenage years can be and having a book to relate to helped me feel like I wasn’t alone. “Am I There Yet?” by Mari Andrew has been an adulthood version of that book for me. In this beautiful book of illustrations, Mari Andrew talks about how the path to adulthood isn’t a straight one and has a lot of loops along the way. This book is filled with little drawings and meaningful words that come together to create an image that often brings on a feeling of relatability in the reader.
Via TheLemonCollective
I first came across Mari Andrew’s Instagram page when it appeared under my discover section on Instagram. The illustrations on her page focused on topics of growing up, leaving home, heartbreak and so on. While I am a big fan of poetry, the art of illustrations was new to me and I appreciated how it was so easy to get the message across and be vulnerable with small drawings and a few words.
Related: New Year’s Resolution: Read More Books
Smitten with her Instagram account (@bymariandrew), I decided to buy her book and it has been a form of self-care for me since. While reading her book (which had small chapters before her drawings of illustrations,) I learned that her father died in 2015 and she went through a lot of heartbreak. I learned that you can take all that pain and anguish and create something beautiful that people could relate to and feel comforted by.
Via Youthkiawazz
“Am I There Yet?” is organized into different themes that adulthood consists of. Some of the themes include finding purpose, creating a home, love and dating, heartbreak and loss, discovering yourself and finding yourself. The personal chapters that Mari shares before each section provides us with some context of the drawings. She tells her readers about different cities that she’s traveled to and the men she has dated. The life lessons that she draws from each of her journeys have always seemed so relevant to my own life. Via Bloglovin
This book is not a handy book that tells you how to navigate through your twenties. It is a book filled with her own journey of ups and downs. You are bound to see yourself in some of her illustrations and think to yourself that you’re not alone in how you’re feeling. Collegiettes, self-care comes in many forms, and sometimes, it looks like a book filled with relatable illustrations. I 10/10 recommend this book.