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Young adult/ LGBTQ+ Sports Fiction 

Published: 2014

Soundtrack: Just A Girl – No Doubt 

Born intersex but raised male, Alyx feels she was denied the opportunity to live life as a woman despite her knowing she is a girl.  After the death of her father and relentless bullying culminating in a physical attack, Alyx and her mother move to Wisconsin for a do-over. Alyx makes the varsity girls’ basketball team, which gives her joy and a new reason to feel stressed. 

I enjoyed the basketball team dynamics and the incorporation of the basketball season into the novel. I loved that the coach and the team (mostly) supported Alyx even when she could not articulate her feelings. Despite being written ten years ago, many aspects of the book felt relevant to today’s difficulties for LGBTQ+ kids handling locker rooms and sports teams. The writing allowed basketball to be incorporated as a character, and the season and team dynamics moved the plot along.

There was lots of teen angst, and Birdsall did an excellent job capturing all the insecurities and self-doubt accompanying being a teenage girl. I wish we saw more of Alyx’s relationship with her mom. Alyx shut down quickly, was a poor communicator, and was suffering from PTSD. I wanted her mental health to be discussed or acknowledged a bit more, especially in the setting of a coming-of-age novel. 

While I enjoyed the book, I was surprised there was not a CW about physical violence and ongoing bullying ( maybe that was not a thing ten years ago) 

I felt the ending was rushed, and while we saw the end of the basketball season, we did not get a ton of resolution about how Alyx navigates her friendships and romantic interests. While it is not exactly my favorite book I have read this year, I do think it would work well for any sports-loving teen who feels they don’t quite belong.