Publishers Weekly
★ 03/07/2016
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. (May)
From the Publisher
Stonewall Book Award Winner
Walter Dean Myers Honor Book for Outstanding Children's Literature
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year
A Zoella Book Club Selection
A Goodreads Choice Award Finalist
A Bustle Best YA Book of the Year
IndieNext Top 10 List
One of Flavorwire's 50 Books Every Modern Teenager Should Read
"This new novel for teens breaks new ground...powerful." —O Magazine
"A beautifully rendered YA novel . . . the first written by a transgender woman about the transgender teen experience." —San Francisco Chronicle
"A vivid, compassionate portrait of a teen finding her place." —The Washington Post
"An illuminating debut guided by hope and overwhelming kindness.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“A necessary, universal story about feeling different and enduring prejudices…full of love, hope, and truth.” —Kirkus, starred review
"This is everything a coming-of-age novel should be—honest, complicated, and meaningful. Transcends the typical 'issue' novel to be a beautiful tale in its own right." —School Library Journal, SLJ Popular Pick
"Amanda's story is neither overly sentimental nor didactic. A thoughtful, truthful, and much needed coming-of-age tale." —Horn Book Review
"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 of trans teens." —ALA Booklist
“Beautiful, smart, and so urgently needed, If I Was Your Girl should be required reading for every teen—scratch that, every person—in America. This book is exactly what YA is for: to break ground, to break hearts, to teach us empathy, to find the universal in the specific. I loved every word. You will too.” —Julie Buxbaum, author of Tell Me Three Things
"Poignant and rare. If I Was Your Girl is the type of book you read and want to immediately share, because it's too important to keep to yourself." —Julie Murphy, author of Dumplin'
"If I Was Your Girl is important and necessary and brave, and deeply, electrically inspiring. Read this wonderful book. Just read it." —Jennifer Niven, author of All the Bright Places
“If I Was Your Girl will change minds and open hearts.” —Nina Lacour, author of We Are Okay
"If I Was Your Girl is real and raw and layered and wonderful." —Alex Gino, author of George
"If there's any justice in the world, we're all witnessing a YA powerhouse in the making." —Forever YA
"Pure magic." —Book Riot
School Library Journal
04/01/2016
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 trans woman 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
JUNE 2016 - AudioFile
Eighteen-year-old Andrew has felt like a girl trapped in a boy’s body as long as he can remember. Narrator Samia Mounts recounts his painful flashbacks of severe bullying, vicious attacks, and a suicide attempt. Mounts eloquently depicts the changes that take place after Andrew’s surgery—when he becomes Amanda. Amanda is timid and uncertain but hopeful as she begins a new life with her formerly estranged father in a small Tennessee town. Mounts expresses the delight Amanda feels as girlfriends accept her and gentle, thoughtful Grant falls in love with her. Mounts provides a bittersweet tone as Amanda blossoms with the tender feelings of first love even as she fears revealing her secret. Her feelings are juxtaposed with her father’s fear for her safety amid the narrow-mindedness of the small Southern town where they live, which Mounts suggests through the judicious use of regional accents. S.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2016-03-02
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)
