Double Exposure

by Bridget Birdsall

Fifteen-year-old Alyx Atlas was raised as a boy, yet she knows something others don’t. She’s a girl. And after her dad dies, it becomes painfully obvious that she must prove it now—to herself and to the world. Born with ambiguous genitalia, Alyx has always felt a little different. But it’s after she sustains a terrible beating behind a 7-Eleven that she and her mother pack up their belongings and move from California to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to start a new life—and Alyx begins over again, this time as a girl.

Alyx quickly makes new friends, earns a spot on the girls’ varsity basketball team, and for the first time in her life feels like she fits in. That is, until her prowess on the court proves too much for the jealous, hotheaded Pepper Pitmani, who sets out to uncover Alyx’s secret. A dangerous game of Truth or Dare exposes Alyx’s difference and will disqualify her entire basketball team from competing in the state championships unless Alyx can prove, once and for all, that she is a girl. But will Alyx find the courage to stand up for the truth of her personhood, or will she do what she’s always done—run away? Whatever she decides, she knows there’s much more at stake than a championship win.

Genres: Young Adult, LGBT, Fiction, Queer, Sports, Contemporary, Intersex

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2014

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alyx is a great character, and I really appreciated that she was so sure about her gender identity in the face of everyone and everything else saying that she was either wrong or ambiguous. Also, when's the last time you read a ya book about girls' basketball?

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to meet Bridget Birdsall this past week at the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival - we were on a YA panel together, alongside Jeffrey Ricker and Greg Herren. I try to do my homework, and read books by authors when I'm going to be speaking with them, and I'm so glad I got pegged for the YA panel - not only was it a fantastic panel, it meant I bumped into this book.

On the basis of character alone, this book was worthwhile. Alyx is the first intersex teen I've ever read, and that she has such a genuine voice is a credit to Birdsall's effort. Alyx is facing a struggle I can only begin to imagine: upon reaching puberty, Alyx, who has been living as a boy (thanks to her parents, mostly her late father) despite her protestations that she is a girl, begins to stick out even more than she already did. When her transgender nature is exposed, the bullying drives her to a new town in a new state for a fresh start.

This time, Alyx is going to be who she knows she is - a girl. That she is a girl with ambiguous genitalia is only part of her struggle - she continues to feel like a freak (even moreso than a typical teen), wishes she could have the surgery she so desperately wants, but is stymied for another two years before she can do so - though she begins the hormone treatments she needs to even out her puberty. She joins the basketball team, and is soon a star athlete. She worries about boys. She worries about how girls act. Basically, she's a teen.

Of course, small towns aren't good places to keep secrets. This was one of the only criticisms I can put forth about the book - Alyx is a smart girl. She's clever, knows what's at stake, and is given information early on about another character that she should really have prepared for. Instead, the big bad moment sneaks up on her and her family and it jarred me a bit out of the narrative to have Alyx seem to actively lose her way for a bit. It speaks to the strength of her characterization otherwise that it bothered me, and soon Alyx is back on track.

That small issue aside, I loved the adults in this book as well - they are not perfect, but Alyx does have the support and love of the adults in her life (even if they don't quite "get" her). That was a refreshing change from Queer YA that can sometimes get bogged down in the "everyone is against me" tone. This is not to say that tone is unrealistic, but it can feel as relentless as real life, and sometimes you just want the kid in the story to catch a break with their family. Alyx has a great family, and there's no pulled punches in the reality of how much that means to her.

Ultimately, this is a hopeful book, and I'm glad to have read it.

[laurel [the suspected bibliophile] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trigger Warning: Transphobia, Queerphobia, Assault, Mental Illness Stigma, f-word

Alyx is intersex, and after being horribly outed and beaten by a group of boys at her old hometown in California, she and her mom pack up and move in with her grandfather and uncle in Milwaukee. There, Alyx is looking for a fresh start. A new name. New identity. New beginning. And a new chance playing for the girl's basketball team. But Alyx's past and her difference is never far behind.

I think I would have liked this book a whole lot better if it didn't start off with a really brutal assault on an intersex person.

And that the assholes who did it weren't arrested or anything.

I also feel like Alyx should probably have had more therapy? In terms of coping with learning she was intersex and undoing years of trauma being raised as a boy, and also for her very serious PTSD. Girl has fucking flashbacks and everything and basically doesn't speak much.

Mostly though, I feel like this would have been a lot better if it were longer, with more themes explored, more characters fleshed out, and less staring at fish. Part of the problem is that there's a huge cast of characters with the entire girls basketball team and other classmates, and none of them really felt like real people—and again, the book was too short and focused on random shit like ass-slapping to really make me care about any of the characters or get down to what made them tick.

Part of the problem was that Alyx was so quiet in terms of her thoughts and feelings, and shut down whenever she faced confrontation (understandable, but frustrating for a reader when the shutting down is also happening in her head too).

Also, I'm not sure when this book is supposed to take place (it was written in 2014), but the lack of social media or the lack of a predominance of social media was really weird. Sure, Alyx deletes all of her stuff, but it was just a side note instead of a driver in her world. The lack of social media, and pretty much every single character acting like a douche canoe from the early 2000s in terms of how they dealt with social issues like gender identity, homophobia, mental illness, fatness, poverty and people of color, made me feel a bit confused as to the time period.

Finally, there's a point where Alyx mentions being genderqueer...but she's not? She's intersex and her gender orientation is set solidly to girl. So I don't know where that term came from? Was it something that was interchangeable with intersex back in 2014? Because these two things are very different. One is assigned sex traits and the other is gender orientation. However, this book does do a pretty good job on breaking down that there aren't just two genders, but that a minority of the population is intersex (with many different varieties of intersexuality), and many other people are genderqueer or trans or nonbinary—without necessarily being intersex.

I did like the basketball aspect, but like so much of the rest of this book, the ending wasn't a bit too pat and underdeveloped for me.

Overall, it was okay, but not great.

[Liza Wiemer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely important novel about an intersex YA. Alyx is an unforgettable character.

Full review to come. But I highly recommend this sensitive, thoughtful, enlightening novel!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mature topic but one that is in the news a lot lately. Alyx was raised as a boy but has always felt like a girl. After being bullied at her last school, the family has moved where she can be herself. Joining the girl's basketball team was a dream come true and a way to relieve stress. But what happens if the team finds out about her past?

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about a girl named Alyx born as an intersex child with ambiguous genitalia and both male and female reproductive organs, Double Exposure does a decent job writing about the unique struggles after being raised as a boy for the first 15 years of life, losing her father, being bullied and trying to adapt to a new school in a new state with her mother's family. While the book seems to do a good job introducing these types of concepts to a YA audience, the book was written in 2014, and some terms have been more carefully defined in the last five years, and even I (hardly an expert) know a few of them were not used quite right. That said, the best part of this book is actually about basketball, and beautifully depicts the necessary bonds of teamwork between people who without sports, may tend to NOT have been friends in high school athletics, and the highs and lows of being part of a competitive team that has to learn to work together. I liked the book and I liked the unique narrator/character of Alyx, but I feel like the story could have gone a little deeper amd have been great, rather than simply good. 3 stars- a good YA book for gender diversity lists, as it's the first I've read in the genre of an intersex character.

[Alicia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why haven't we heard more about this book published in 2014? I'm sad I missed it, but so glad I found it. There is no question of the need and value of Birdsall's story, so the matter-of-fact delivery is refreshing. It's got the right mix of character development, intrigue, every day problems and issues, family drama, and quirk. I mean who wouldn't want to meet the uncle?

Alyx had a painfully revealing experience with a group of boys in his hometown in California. This was the straw that she took then to ask her mother (after her father has just passed from cancer) to move back to Alyx's mother's hometown in Milwaukee to start fresh and as a girl. Alyx was born intersex and Alyx's parents wanted her to make the decision on what she felt was the 'appropriate' gender, which had from early on been girl though they had leaned toward raising her a boy. There are several painful expressions when she relays that when her father passed, he still had a son. But with major depression from both his death and her gender as she was hitting puberty, she reached out because she was feeling suicidal.

The move was made and Alyx, a start basketball player, gets to start anew. Even her uncle and grandfather are supportive and everyone seems happy... until the requisite reveal. SPOILER .

And while there is a fairly saccharine ending, it all fits. There are gritty moments, there are sweet moments, there are hard parts and sentimental ones that add up to an all-around great addition to GLBT books for teens.

[Journey · Rating 3 out of 5]

i tried to find reviews of this book by intersex people but couldn't--if anyone knows of any please share! that said, Alyx feels authentic as a character, and Double Exposure presents a situation where her parents knew forcing a surgery on an infant was wrong, but that their decision to leave her genitalia ambiguous still had an impact on her, and they could not and did not raise her as gender neutral--they raised her as a boy. and when she's old enough, she realizes she does not want that. i think there's an extra feeling of betrayal because her parents were not doing this obliviously; they were not raising her as a boy because well, she looked like one and what else would they do? they knew they had to make a decision, and they did, and in her view, they chose wrong.

so i like Alyx a lot, but the rest of the book was just so-so for me. none of the other characters really feel fleshed out, and the ending was waaaay, way too sugarcoated. Alyx forgives Pepper, the girl who bullied her and outed her, and they make up quickly after Pepper's dad takes the blame in a tearful scene for pushing Pepper too hard. oh my god REALLY??? i realize they have a game to get to, but the rest of the team was confident they could win without Pepper, and even if Alyx wanted her to play in the game they didn't have to sappily make up like everything's better.

also, small annoyance, but "genderfluid" and "intersex" are 100% not the same thing (someone could be both, sure, but Alyx makes it pretty clear she considers herself a girl and only a girl).

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fifteen-year-old born intersex finally gets a chance to live and play ball as the girl she's always known herself to be in contemporary Milwaukee. I highly recommend it for older middle schoolers on up.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

If everyone read this book and thought about it from each character's perspective... the world would be a better place.

[Monica Roy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite things about YA lit is that it helps teens develop empathy for others; for this reason, one of my all-time favorite YA books is Fat Kid Rules the World. Double Exposure is about an intersex teen who feels that she should have been raised as a girl and not a boy as her parents decided. After her father dies and she's been beaten to a pulp for the third or fourth time, her mother decides to move them back to her hometown, where Alyx struggles to find her place and deals with her fear of being discovered. The ending was a little to neat and tidy to be realistic, but that might be cynical on my part.

Having also read Middlesex in the last year, it would be interesting to contrast the experiences of the two main characters (but that might just be the English teacher talking).

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

`You gotta make friends, Alyx. Don't be loser loner - it's the only way to survive high school'

Wisconsin author Bridget Birdsall is dyslexic (definition: dyslexia is a learning disorder characterized by difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words). The fact that she is able to write a book so profoundly sensitive and with such agility of technique can be both a result of her coping with that dysfunction and with first hand understanding of young people who are `different'. She has an MFA in writing (specialty - children and young adults) from Vermont College and shoulders a self-imposed responsibility to teach creative, contemplative, and business writing skills throughout the Midwest. She is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships and is known as a writer willing to tackle tough topics. Birdsall lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Bridget writes a sensitive tale about a child born with intersex ("Intersex" is a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types--for example, a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris, or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia. Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY.) Too much information? This reader feels that without a grounding in the realities of the situation our main character faces the story may seem less powerful - not because Bridget doesn't handle it well, but because it is a condition poorly understood by many.

Alyx is 15 years old and has been raised (at her father's decision) to be a boy. But puberty changes appearance and his penis is very small and he has no scrotum, a fact that make his life in Gym classes result in being beaten severely because of being different. He and his mother move from California to Wisconsin where Alyx takes on her personality of a girl - more in keeping with the decision that should have been made at birth. The story presents the challenges Alyx as a girl must face as she is a superb basketball player and finds immediate solace in becoming a part of the girls' basketball team until her secret is disclosed. How she manages to overcome her congenital problem serves as the remainder of this powerful story.

Bridget Birdsall will doubtless win awards for this book, not only because it is written with such style but also because it marks a touchstone of revelation about a condition poorly understood. Highly recommended.

[Sally Kruger]

"Aren't we all queer? Different? Odd? Peculiar? Strange? Freaky? Weird? Losers in our own way?" It may have taken the first fifteen years of her life, but Alyx Atlas is coming to terms with who, or some may say, what she is.

Born intersexed, Alyx has both male and female genitalia. This rare condition was explained to her parents by the doctor who suggested that surgery could be performed immediately to preserve her female organs and eliminate the male organs. It was the decision made by most parents of newborns with this condition. Alyx's forward thinking parents decided to leave things just as they were and give Alyx time to decide who he/she wanted to be.

Since Alyx displayed true athletic talent, most considered her a boy, but from an early age she viewed herself as female. According to doctors, she could begin taking female hormones so she could develop breasts and begin menstruating, but the advice was that she wait until she was eighteen to consider any final surgery.

All the advice was well and good, but since Alyx's feminine tracts dominated, she became the target for bullies, and after a number of vicious attacks, she began thinking death would be easier than living this double life.

After her father's death from cancer, Alyx and her mother relocated from California to her mother's hometown in Milwaukee. Alyx took her mother's maiden name hoping to blend in at her new school. She joined the girls' basketball team and began to live a life she thought would be normal.

As most readers will soon guess, Alyx's past catches up with her and life once again becomes complicated. Will she be able to deal with the challenges ahead? Will she be able to come to terms with who she is despite the sidelong looks and discrimination of others?

Author Bridget Birdsall tackles a tough subject with sensitivity and grace. Readers will fall in love with Alyx right from the start and cheer her on as she faces more than any teen should have to face. Her unique situation will force readers to consider exactly what makes a person who they are both inside and out. DOUBLE EXPOSURE is a must-read and should be on every high school library and classroom shelf.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Double Exposure was really great! Alyx is intersex. She was born with ambiguous genitalia, and her parents decided not to have surgery to assign her a gender as a baby. However, Alyx ended up being raised as a boy, even though she was girl. After her father dies, and she gets beat up for being "queer," her mother moves them across the country for a fresh start. Now, Alyx can finally present herself as the girl that she is and live the life she wants. At least until her gender comes into question and puts her basketball team in jeopardy.

I really enjoyed Double Exposure. It is quite sad and heavy in the beginning as we learn what Alyx has gone through. It wasn't just the bullying at school, but she felt like her parents (particularly her father) didn't understand how she felt about her incorrect gender assignment. But once Alyx and her mom move in with her grandfather, the story becomes hopeful. Alyx is just like any other teen starting over in a new school, and trying to fit in. She does worry about her secret coming out, but for the most part, she's enjoying finally being who she is and getting to play on the girls' basketball team.

Double Exposure was a wonderful read. I really liked getting to know Alyx, and I also liked learning more about intersexuality. The chapters that discussed the medical aspects of Alyx's gender didn't feel like they were out of a textbook. The human component was very much there as Alyx tells us how she feels about her body parts not matching up with how she feels. It was also interesting (and terrible) to see how the basketball commission dealt with her situation. There is a happy ending though! So don't worry! I do wish there had been a little more toward the end about how Alyx handled everyone knowing about her.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an awesome read on so many levels. Writing is skillful, and voice is fresh. I very much enjoyed the touches of humor, especially given the fact that the subject matter is serious and complex.

Fifteen year old Alyx was born intersexed. She has both male and female traits but due to her father's desire for a son Alyx has been raised as a boy thus far. She's had a rough time at school, been bullied and beat up for being different. Mom and Alyx move to Milwaukee to live with family and make a new start. Alyx wants desperately to live as a girl and this is her opportunity to start afresh. Alyx is also a talented athlete and makes the varsity basketball team in her new high school. But she must keep her gender differences a secret, while transitioning into a female with the help of hormones.

The author writes in a straightforward manner about the physical differences in Alyx, and I believe young readers will appreciate and respect that. But more important than that are the ways in which Alyx discovers everyone is really different in their own way. The book's closing wraps up a phenomenal opportunity for Alyx's team to go to State championships, while highlighting the value of teamwork. Alyx needs to change her own way of thinking in order to be accepted by all her team members.

Book's about winners in various meanings of the word. In fact, the book IS a winner!

p.s. a mind-blowing statistic is included in the book. 2% of all babies are born intersexed. I wonder if this statistic is accurate. An eye opener if it is.

[Sandy Brehl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The core issue here (a teen who was born dual-gendered/hermaphroditic) drives the tension and conflicts, and the surrounding story is so well-written and the characters so well-developed that this book is a winner in any category. Those are the elements that elevate it above being "just" a topical story, earn it a place among the 2014 "BEST BOOKS" titles for anti-bullying, and make Alyx an unforgettable, pronoun-free, character. Every teen struggles with issues of identity, family, peer pressure, and countless other confusions. Alyx not only travels those harrowing paths but is intelligent and articulate enough to offer up tidbits of facts about similar births and statistics that everyone should know.
On top of that, it's a great read. (I adore Uncle Joe, and I'm betting you will,too.)

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an intersex teen, Alyx's life has been pretty much hell. After her father's death and yet another beating at the hands of her nemesis, she and her mother move to Wisconsin. There, Alyx will only be known as a girl and not as a boy or undecided -- or so she hopes. When she excels in basketball, her life, however, continues to become nearly as complicated as it was in California.

I know Bridget and must give kudos to her work. It is outstanding and worthy of the awards for which it has nominated and won.

[Jamie Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story about girls basketball! The main character struggles with sexual identity and the loss of her father to cancer. Extreme bullying leads the family to move from California to Milwaukee for a fresh start. However, a hot-temepered, talented member of the basketball team uncovers who the main character Alyx was in California, which causes trouble for the team that is headed straight for a state championship. Great read for any teens dealing with these struggles in their own lives. The conflict resolution is uplifting.

[Valerie Biel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bridget Birdsall does an excellent job presenting the issue of gender identity through a wonderfully told story. We are rooting for Alyx from the beginning as she struggles to find her place in a new school and on a new basketball team. All the typical teen troubles are heightened by Alyx's journey to be herself. (Avoiding spoilers here!) And for basketball fans--the game play-by-play is awesome!

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this, couldn't put it down. It's so much fun to read a book set in a familiar place. Explores what it means to be intersexed in a way that normalizes and gives respect to those who are born intersexed.

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 September 2017 - so far highly recommended. I have the Scribd audio version and the narrator, in my opinion, captures the brittleness of Alyx perfectly.

7 September 2017 - This novel has won many plaudits and it’s easy to see why. A strong story, well-crafted characters which moves along at a good pace. I finished this in two evenings; it is that difficult to put down.

Alyx is a 15 year old intersex child, brought up as a boy but who always felt she was a girl. Her parents made the decision to allow Alyx to choose her own self-hood, but this brought its own problems. As she says herself, that decision is all well and good, but at some stage she needed to choose a locker-room and that proved difficult.

Driven out of California by constant bullying, Alyx and her Mother return to the family home in Milwaukee, where Alyx wins a place on the girls’ basketball team. This generated an unprecedented level of jealousy from one team member, who sets out to find out about Alyx’s past. When the truth comes out, Alyx has to decide whether run or stand and fight.

Added to this are what we would see as regular teenage angst, but which Alyx finds difficult to cope with. How do you date a boy when you’ve been a boy most of your life?

It’s a brilliant novel that should be a standard reading text in schools. It pulls no punches and is written in a refreshingly straight-forward style from a young person’s point of view.

Favourite quote: "Aren't we all queer? Different? Odd? Peculiar? Strange? Freaky? Weird? Losers in our own way?" - Double Exposure - Bridget Birdsall

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Double Exposure provides an interesting look into the life of an intersex teenager. However, I'm not sure I'd recommend it. Despite being published less than ten years ago, it already feels quite outdated--a lot of really nasty queerphobic language is thrown at Alyx (in fact, the story begins with Alyx being viciously physically and verbally attacked on-page), and a Black character and a character struggling with mental health are both portrayed in less-than-sensitive ways. There are also a lot of typos--most of which are the name "Roslyn" being misspelled as "Rosyln" repeatedly. Also, a "not like other girls" gets thrown in, and the jacket-flap description uses the wrong last name for the main character... I'm hesitant to call it deadnaming, but it sort of is? So, I don't think Double Exposure is really what readers today need. I wish there were more options for books about intersex youth--Ash Van Otterloo's Cattywampus is the only other one I've read.

[Jeanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Saidah Gilbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about an intersexed teenager who prefers to be of the female sex though her parents brought her up as a boy. This is a somewhat uncomfortable topic for me because I know nothing about it. I am totally ignorant. Plus, I am also sheltered and privileged so I couldn’t relate to the situation at all. I have never been bullied nor have I ever seen bullying and I find myself unsympathetic to bullying victims when I read them in books for some reason. However, I liked the book well enough. I’m glad I bought it.

[Hillary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars because the writing was nothing exceptional, just to-the-point, which I think some readers will appreciate but bored me. Also, it should have been longer. There is a supporting character, Pepper, whose story is essential to the plot as the protagonist's, but I came away not feeling much for her. If anything, I had no sympathy for her, which I'm sure was not the author's intent. Otherwise an interesting story about a high school basketball player and young woman who happens to be intersex. I don't think I've come across many books about girls basketball.

[Alexa Zupko · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I wasn’t sure about this book, but once I got into it, I couldn’t stop reading. It was fun to read a book about girl’s basketball, and I also learned a lot about being intersex from Alyx’s character. I wish that there was more development between Alyx and Peter because there dynamic was very interesting and I wanted to see how it could progress. I also wished that there was more talk about Alyx going to therapy or talking through some of her struggles because she seems to have PTSD and suicidal thoughts. Overall, I enjoyed this book.

[Annette Wesolowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buzzer beater

Hard to imagine a better written story of a difficult subject. A rare hermaphrodite changes from being raised male to how she really feels...female. Her family not only supports her but truly walks alongside, with a Harley Davidson uncle and nurse-mom . This demonstrates two principles of successful teens: finding a skill to excel in and getting through a high risk difficulty with love supporting her.

[SM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing story about an intersexual teen Alyx and the problems that happen when your gender does not fit into one of the two choices. If the stats are right, 2% of births are affected, a school of one thousand kids will have 20 with this condition. This is more common than most of us realize and I'm guessing there is little support for of these individuals. The author handled a challenging subject well and got her message across.

[Blazin · Rating 5 out of 5]

As one of the reviews on the cover says, this is the type of book that might save a teens life. This book was wonderful, Alyx had a good personality and was sure of herself. All the other characters were written well. Pepper was an excellent antagonist and I was able to hate her, not because she was a badly written character but because she so perfectly reminded me of all the bullies I have known in my own life. Read this book, you won't regret it.

[John Gilbert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this book, Ms Birdsall really gets into the issue of being different and how society deals with it and how the 'victims' have to deal with it on a daily basis. The characters she builds are real and believable. Highly recommended, especially for anyone who is 'different' or knows someone whom is.