Gr 10 Up—Fifteen-year-old Alex Stringfellow has lived her entire life feeling like she's two people, male and female. Though previously identified as male, Alex decides to begin living as a female. What Alex doesn't know is that she was born intersex, and her parents had chosen not to tell her. To make her transition to living as a female easier, Alex enrolls in a new school where she quickly makes friends. While her adjustment is mostly smooth, Alex is concerned about how her friends will react if they find out she's a lesbian or if they find out about her "noodle." Her transition at home is less easy. After telling her parents, "I'm a girl," Alex's father leaves home and her mother struggles with Alex's gender identity and often handles it with fits, abuse, and attempts to control her child. Her absent father offers little support. Adding dimension to the teen's story are her internal conversations with the male and female sides of herself, and her mother's blog posts and the ensuing comments from readers. Brugman tackles a sensitive issue with grace and grit. The strong protagonist often acts with more maturity than her parents. This work is best suited for fans of problem novels, teens struggling with identity issues of all kinds, and readers looking for a good contemporary fiction title that has teeth.—
Adrienne L. Strock, Teen Library Manager, Nashville Public LibraryFifteen-year-old Alex, who is intersex, has been raised as a boy but wants to identify as female, which unhinges her self-absorbed mother. There's a lot packed into this Australian import: challenging family dynamics, bullying, gender identity, and sexuality. The narrative doesn't explore anything in depth and character development is uneven, but the novel offers an unusual perspective on society's influence on identity.
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