What started as an Instagram followed by just her mom in 2015 has turned into a best seller for writer and illustrator Mari Andrew C鈥�08.
Am I There Yet?: The Loop-de-loop, Zigzagging Journey to Adulthood, released in March, is a collection of Andrew鈥檚 Instagram posts, and the first of a four-book deal Andrew has inked with Penguin Random House.
The posts, which combine raw, honest essays and thought bubbles (handwritten in a loopy script) with simple, childlike illustrations, pack a surprisingly potent emotional punch.
At a June book signing, held at Low Res Studio in the West Loop, Andrew took questions from the rapt audience, including many young women like herself who laughed along with her anecdotes.
In a 2016 interview with Nylon Magazine, Andrew, a Seattle native and New York City resident, recalled the moment she realized she could be a writer:
鈥淚 remember sitting around envying other people鈥檚 lives and thinking, 鈥業 wish I could play the guitar. Wouldn鈥檛 it be cool if I could just salsa dance?鈥� It was around that time, when I was at rock bottom, that I thought鈥� If you want to be a writer, you have to write.鈥�
North Park will honor Andrew this fall with the Distinguished Young Alumni Award.