If I Was Your Girl

Starred review from March 7, 2016
In an illuminating debut guided by hope and overwhelming kindness, Russo demonstrates the challenges teens face in finding “the truest version” of themselves. Though she was born Andrew Hardy, Amanda always knew she was meant to be a girl. After enduring classroom bullies and her father’s admonishments to toughen up, Amanda moves to Atlanta with her mother for a long, difficult physical transition. Afterward, Amanda returns to her father and a new town in Tennessee, eager to finish high school and move to a big city. Amanda wishes to go unnoticed, but her beauty attracts friends and potential boyfriends. The more she begins to feel like “a normal teenage girl,” the more she becomes aware of the secrets those around her keep—secrets that, like hers, have the power to both destroy and liberate. Shifting between Amanda’s past and present, Russo gently examines the emotional journey of one trans teen, covering acceptable language, gender expectations, and the politics of going “stealth.” Though the Southern setting and religious undertones aren’t free of stereotypes, they serve as a sounding board for larger issues of identity and orientation. Ages 13–up. Agent: Sara Shandler and Joelle Hobeika, Alloy Entertainment.

Starred review from March 15, 2016
After surviving a brutal attack, Amanda starts school in a new town. She plans to stay focused and get through senior year, but kind, attractive Grant causes a distraction that wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for her deepest secret. Russo has written a story that many trans teens--and adults--have been wanting: a sweet, believable romance that stokes the fires of hope without devolving into saccharine perfection or horrific tragedy. There is friction, from fear born of the violence Amanda has experienced, from dangers to girls that most boys don't feel, but Russo hasn't written yet another horror story that readers must endure along with its protagonist. There's confusion, levity, awkwardness, like any teen's story. There is friction from within Amanda. As her friend and transmother, or mentor, Virginia, says, she's "won the genetic lottery when it comes to passing." When they're deciding how to spend an evening, Amanda notes that Virginia's jaw is a little too strong, shoulders a little too wide to keep them both safe from detection. This is just one of many conflicting, confusing truths that help reflect some trans people's fear of violence and hostility in this moment in time--including the ones rightly called out when coming from others--such as the expectation of a perfect physical reflection of one's truest gender. Above all, this is a necessary, universal story about feeling different and enduring prejudices, and it's full of love, hope, engaging writing, and truth. (Fiction. 13 & up)

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April 1, 2016

Gr 9 Up-After a violent incident in her Atlanta suburb, Amanda moves to small-town Tennessee to make a new start with her estranged father. Finally living openly as her true self three years after she, then known as Andrew, attempted suicide, Amanda needs the safety and relative freedom of a fresh beginning. A new set of risks and opportunities open up to her as she makes friends with a group of girls harboring their own secrets, navigates a tense relationship with a father who is terrified of what the world will do to his child, and begins the first romance of her life. This is everything a coming-of-age novel should be-honest, complicated, and meaningful. Amanda navigates the teenage world with a cautious bravery that will grip readers by the heart. Russo, herself a transwoman from Tennessee, handles every issue in the story-from pot and promposals to hormones and support groups-with a deft hand, both gentle and honest. The result is a narrative that transcends the typical "issue" novel to be a beautiful tale in its own right. VERDICT A highly recommended purchase for any collection serving teens.-Amy Diegelman, Vineyard Haven Public Library, MA

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2016
Grades 9-12 Eighteen-year-old Amanda, the new girl at Lambertville High, has a closely guarded secret. At her old school, she was Andrew, battered and abused for being different. Following surgery, Amanda is now transsexual and has come to live with her divorced father, hoping to spend her last year in her new school as invisibly as possibleshe is emotionally numb from the ordeal of her life so far, the circumstances of which readers learn in a series of dramatic flashbacks. But then she meets sweet, gentle Grant and, despite herself and her fears, finds herself falling in love, and it's obvious he returns those feelings. But what will happen if he learns the truth? Russo, a trans woman, writes with authority and empathy, giving readers not only an intellectual but also an emotional understanding of Amanda and her compelling story. Never didactic, this debut is a valuable contribution to the slender but growing body of literature about trans teens. Pair this with Katie Rain Hill's memoir Rethinking Normal (2014).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)