Review: Athlete is Agender edited by Katherine Locke and Nicole Melleby

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Athlete is Agender edited by Katherine Locke and Nicole Melleby

Athlete is Agender: True Stories of LGBTQ+ People in Sports
Edited by Katherine Locke and Nicole Melleby
Little, Brown & Company
Published May 13, 2025

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About Athlete is Agender: True Stories of LGBTQ+ People in Sports

Athlete is agender. Athlete can mean anyone. “Part memoir, part manifesto” (Booklist) this book revels in the achievements of strong, passionate, and determined LGBTQ+ athletes across every age, level, and field of sports.

Find your strength  Adam Rippon’s unbelievable journey from figure-skating Olympic alternate to the first openly gay Olympic medalist in his sport; CeCé Telfer’s career as a trans track star and her unwavering commitment to run for the future freedom of trans athletes; em dickson’s relationship to eir gender identity and how sailing, a sport that doesn’t categorize athletes by gender, helped em embrace eir power and identity, and many other invaluable true stories. Featuring testimonies by world-class athletes and award-winning children’s book authors, as well as profiles on culture-defining figures like Megan Rapinoe and Billie Jean King, Athlete Is Agender is a lifesaving book not to be missed.

This book is
·         LGBTQIA+ kids, teens, tweens, and adults.
·         Athletes and sports fans.
·         Readers looking to learn more about the LGBTQIA+ community.
·         Parents of gay kids and other LGBTQIA+ youth.
·         Educators looking for advice about the LGBTQIA+ community.

TITLE IX UPDATE

Laws are constantly being debated, repealed, and fought for. On January 9th, 2025, a federal court in Kentucky argued that transgender and nonbinary students should not be covered by Title IX protections, rolling back the 2021 order from then-Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.

Right now, schools are currently required to follow the old version of Title IX, which does not include a section on transgender athletes. It’s up to us to keep pushing to get those protections back for transgender students. For transgender athletes reading this, the most powerful thing you can do is to be true to yourself, stay informed, and be sure to vote in every election you are eligible for. 

My Review

In this anthology, athletes share personal stories about the positive impact that sports have had on their lives. The stories are moving and easy to connect with, even for people who aren’t familiar with the athlete’s sport.

I particularly love the range of sports represented in the book. This includes sports like horse riding, archery, hockey, swimming, baseball, basketball, tennis, soccer, and more. Sports fans will recognize some of the essay authors.

The whole point of the book is to show that participation in sports can have a life-changing, positive impact on an athlete, and that everyone, regardless of identity or orientation deserves access to these activities.

In one essay, the author’s frustration is crystal clear. That tone might challenge some readers, but listening past that discomfort is important. It’s worth remembering that the current exclusions cause harm and affect real people.

If you’re looking to expand your knowledge about sports participation, I recommend this book and Gender Inequality in Sports: From Title IX to World Titles by Kirstin Cronn-Mills.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Reference to two athletes who date and later marry.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
References to bullying. Reference to someone whose partner outs them without consent.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Middle Grade 8-12, Poetry, , , , , , , , ,

The Trouble with Heroes
Kate Messner
Bloomsbury USA Children’s
Published April 29, 2025

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About The Trouble with Heroes

Bestselling and award-winning author Kate Messner takes readers on a heart-filling journey as a boy finds his path to healing.

One summer.
46 mountain peaks.
A second chance to make things right.

Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn’s about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines . . . until now.

Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he’s in big trouble for kicking down some dead old lady’s headstone. But it turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual offer…climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks with her dead mother’s dog, and they can call it even.

In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails. At the top of each peak, he can see for miles and slowly begins to understand more about himself and his dad. But the mountains don’t care about any of that, and as the clock ticks down to September, they have more surprises in store. Finn’s final summit challenge may be more than even a hero can face.

My Review

This story is mostly told in verse with a few letters and articles mixed in. At first, Finn writes poems as part of an English assignment for school. The early poems are written unwillingly, so some of the things he writes are funny from the perspective of watching a kid try to weasel out of doing work. But as he keeps writing, he begins to appreciate poetry as a vehicle to process his thoughts and experiences.

The same is true of his hiking experience. At first, he’s only participating unwillingly. He knows his mom can’t afford to replace the headstone he broke, and this is an alternative way that he can apologize for his behavior and make it right. As he spends more time outdoors, he starts noticing more of the natural world around him and even forms connections with his hiking mentors.

That leads him to process his grief over losing his dad during COVID-19. As the story unfolds, he also learns about connections between his hiking life and his dad’s experiences. I loved some of those connections. One in particular really hits deep, so grab some tissues as you get to the end of the book.

I have enjoyed every book by Kate Messner that I’ve ever read, so it isn’t a huge surprise that I loved this one. I think this is the first novel in verse that I’ve read by her, and I think she did a fabulous job with it.

If you’re looking for a nature-centered book about hiking or a story about a kid who’s made some bad choices and has a chance to turn things around, you’ll want to check this one out.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Finn kicked over a headstone in a graveyard and broke it. References to September 11th. References to an injured person carried by a firefighter. The story includes brief memories of the COVID-19 pandemic. References to an animal attack. References to the death of a parent.

Drug Content
Finn’s dad struggled with alcohol addiction.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Trans and Gender Diverse Teen Resilience Guide by Jayme L Peta, Deb Coolhart, and Rylan Jay Testa

Book Review and Content, Nonfiction, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

Trans and Gender Diverse Teen Resilience Guide
Jayme L Peta, Deb Coolhart, and Rylan Jay Testa
New Harbinger Press
Published May 1, 2025

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About Trans and Gender Diverse Teen Resilience Guide

A teen-friendly guide to help you embrace your identity, build resilience, and thrive.

As a transgender or nonbinary teen, you may sometimes feel like you are alone. The world can be a scary, unkind place, and if you’re struggling to find support, you may be tempted to lose hope. But it’s important for you to know that there are other teens out there just like you—as well as a whole community of folks who have been where you are now, and who are thriving as adults. Finding hope, happiness, and community takes time. In the meantime, this compassionate guide can help.

Written just for trans and nonbinary (TGNB) youth, this book offers trauma-informed skills to help you embrace who you are, give and find support in community, and thrive. You’ll discover tools to help you manage intense emotions and stress, cultivate self-compassion, prioritize self-care, and create communities of support. Finally, you’ll learn how to focus on creating the life you want to live, in a positive community of others.

When faced with life’s challenges, it’s vital to remember that you are not alone, and you deserve to be happy, safe, and loved. No matter what. This book can help support you as you navigate the world and discover all the wonders that make you you.

My Review

I read this book as a part of expanding my knowledge as an ally, and even though the content isn’t directed at me, there are lots of ways in which it still applied. So, that was a nice bonus.

The book helps readers thoughtfully develop self-care habits and routines. It’s packed with solid, tried-and-true information explained clearly and gently. I love that the suggestions include practical steps for how to navigate relationships with unsupportive versus supportive people.

The book includes journal prompts and encourages readers to dance or exercise or get outside in nature to help manage anxiety and other difficult emotions.

The only thing I wish was different about the book is the way it’s organized. Though it’s pretty short– I think the whole book is only 122 pages– it’s only broken up into seven chapters. The text is broken up by bold subheadings. Each chapter ends with a bulleted list of “takeaway” ideas.

I think breaking up the text with dialogue boxes or separating out the journal prompts (or repeating them at the end of the chapter) would make the book easier to use. It’s possible that the final version has better formatting– I just read an electronic ARC (advanced review copy) that I got on NetGalley.

As a person connected to a couple of people who are trans and/or gender diverse, I found the book helpful, too. I learned some things about internalized transphobia that weren’t obvious to me before. It also helped to sit with information about the experience of being trans or gender diverse.

I’ll be reviewing another book shortly on gender identity called The Gender Binary is a Big Lie, and I’m interested to see if there are ways in which the two books overlap.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
References to dating relationships.

Spiritual Content
Briefly encourages mindfulness practices.

Violent Content
Vague references to bullying.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Review: Under the Fading Sky by Cynthia Kadohata

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Under the Fading Sky
Cynthia Kadohata
Atheneum
Published April 22, 2025

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About Under the Fading Sky

A teen boy thinks his vaping habit is harmless until it becomes a crippling addiction of nightmarish dimensions in this searing young adult novel from Newbery and National Book Award winner Cynthia Kadohata.

Sixteen-year-old Elijah is pretty damn sick of his parents always being on his case about vaping. It’s not like he’s shooting up or knocking back pills. Until something changes, so slowly Jacob isn’t even aware it’s happening. Instead of vaping every now and then when he wants to, he’s vaping all the time because he has to.

And soon, Elijah and his friends need even more than vaping and are stumbling their way into the sprawling drug culture of Southern California, where girls sell pictures of themselves for vape and pill money, and the dealers are cutthroat. The more desperate the teens become, the more money they need. And to get that money they’re being blackmailed into an impossible choice—and an end you won’t see coming.

My Review

Under the Fading Sky gets pretty dark. It has a strong, conversational voice. Elijah speaks directly to the reader in what sometimes feels like a stream-of-consciousness narrative. It creates the sense that we’re figuring things out right alongside him.

Elijah is a biracial sixteen-year-old. His dad and grandfather served in the military, and they talk about things they witnessed in combat. While Elijah isn’t part of a military campaign, he views the experience of his generation as being at war, citing the high numbers of teens who die from drug overdose or suicide each year. As someone deeply interested in history, he sometimes connects events from his current life to moments or trends from history, which draws some interesting comparisons.

As Elijah becomes more deeply enmired in drug culture, he and his friends begin doing things that are far out of character for themselves. Elijah has moments of clarity, where he can’t believe what he’s doing, but he also has a lot of moments where he’s so fixated on what he wants that he isn’t able to feel discomfort or shame about his other choices.

One thing that I found myself really wishing for with this novel is an author’s note at the end. I listened to this novel as an audiobook, and it didn’t include any extra material, like resources for getting help for drug or mental health issues or any clarification for what elements of the story are based on research. I would have liked to know what led her to write the novel and, more importantly, what she learned in her research as she wrote the story.

Conclusion

Under the Fading Sky will appeal to readers who like gritty contemporary young adult novels about kids who face addiction and mental health issues. Please take care reading this. The book contains suicide death and a character who repeatedly tries to pressure others to commit murder.

Content Notes for Under the Fading Sky

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Strong profanity used somewhat frequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
A man Elijah and his friends buy drugs from exposes himself to them. References to sexual abuse and coerced sex. Kissing.

Spiritual Content
References to Elijah’s family identifying as Christian and praying together before their meals. Elijah describes some of the people with bad intentions that he meets as demons, and meeting them makes him feel as though he has stepped into a demon world.

Violent Content
A boy gets injured doing a dangerous skateboarding stunt. Elijah’s dad and grandfather briefly share war stories from their time in combat, including reference to buddies who were killed. One describes a person severely injured who begged for death. References to sexual abuse and assault. One character repeatedly encourages another to commit murder for money. References to blackmail and drug overdose. One character dies by suicide. It doesn’t happen on page, but the main character is immediately aware and is first on-scene/first to call emergency services afterward.

Drug Content
Elijah and his friends vape and take pills. He attends recovery meetings with other kids who have used other drugs. The story explores the ways in which vaping and the pills affect Elijah’s attitude about school, his family, and his behavior/boundaries. Elijah learns about a person who overdosed.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my library. All opinions are my own.

Review: City Spies by James Ponti

Book Review and Content, Middle Grade 8-12, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, , , , , , , ,

City Spies (City Spies #1)
James Ponti
Aladdin
Published March 10, 2020

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads

About City Spies

Sara Martinez is a hacker. She recently broke into the New York City foster care system to expose her foster parents as cheats and lawbreakers. However, instead of being hailed as a hero, Sara finds herself facing years in a juvenile detention facility and banned from using computers for the same stretch of time. Enter Mother, a British spy who not only gets Sara released from jail but also offers her a chance to make a home for herself within a secret MI6 agency.

Operating out of a base in Scotland, the City Spies are five kids from various parts of the world. When they’re not attending the local boarding school, they’re honing their unique skills, such as sleight of hand, breaking and entering, observation, and explosives. All of these allow them to go places in the world of espionage where adults can’t.

Before she knows what she’s doing, Sarah is heading to Paris for an international youth summit, hacking into a rival school’s computer to prevent them from winning a million euros, dangling thirty feet off the side of a building, and trying to stop a villain…all while navigating the complex dynamics of her new team.

No one said saving the world was easy…

My Review

I’m waaay behind on the City Spies series, but I keep hearing people talk about it, so I wanted to give it a try. I have books five and six on my shelf, so I would love to catch up enough to read them.

The first novel that I read by James Ponti is The Sherlock Society, which I had a ton of fun reading. The tone of that one is different than City Spies, which makes sense, since one is a mystery and the other is a spy thriller. I think personally, I prefer the more low-key, Florida-based mystery vibe in The Sherlock Society, but I still found a lot to like about City Spies.

City Spies rotates through several points of view. It starts out with Sarah’s perspective and then introduces Paris’s point-of-view and that of the mentor they call “Mother.” We also see some scenes from the perspective of a girl no longer on the City Spies team. This allows us to get some backstory on how the team formed and what’s truly at stake. It also created a really nice setup for a sweet moment between Sarah and Mother at the end.

The book perfectly set up the series. It leaves tons of room for future adventures for the team who operate under the names of the cities they were recruited from. I love that little snippet of geography and the fact that future books take the team to different places. I’m interested to read more.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 8 to 12.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
None.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Someone threatens others with a biological weapon.

Drug Content
None.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. I borrowed a copy of this book from my library. All opinions are my own.

Review: Dragon Spear by Jessica Day George

Book Review and Content, Fantasy, Middle Grade 8-12, , , , , ,

Dragon Spear
Jessica Day George
Bloomsbury
Published May 12, 2009

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About Dragon Spear

The third and final installment in New York Times bestselling author Jessica Day George’s dragon fantasy series races to a dramatic finale.

As far as Creel is concerned, all is finally right with the world. For the first time in centuries it seems dragons and humans might be able to live together in peace. So what better time for Creel and Luka to plan their wedding.

But then the dragon queen, Velika, is kidnapped by a band of rogue dragons in need of a ruler. When Creel and Luka rush to help, they discover that Luka’s father has plans to take back the Far Islands from the dragons. Creel’s happily ever after just might be postponed . . . again.

My Review

Oof. Okay. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, though there are some moments, even in that first one, that I think would benefit from an update. I liked the second book as well, so I decided I would finish the trilogy. (I’m tracking my series reading now, and trying to finish a series when I can.) It didn’t take long before I realized Dragon Spear was going to be a really hard book for me to review due to the problematic content. (See below.)

Each book in the series broadens the world the author has built by exploring other nations and places within it. Each new place has different values and a unique relationship with the dragons who live there. I like the idea of continuing to explore different regions within the world. I wish the story had taken different directions from some of the ones it did take. (See my notes in the representation section below.)

One thing I was interested in seeing the story explore more is the matriarchy of the dragons. In the first book, Creel learns the dragons are led by a queen, and in the second, Queen Velika returns to her people to lead them. In this book, the Creel’s dragons encounter a group of other dragons who enslave humans and make other claims about the matriarchy.

For most of the book, Shardas, the dragon king, leads the dragons, making decisions and forging alliances. Some of the time, Velika is unavailable to make those choices, so it’s clear Shardas stands in her place. But at other times, even though the queen is available, she seems to sit back while the male dragons argue about what to do. It’s possible that I didn’t clearly understand the roles of the queen versus king in the series. I did find myself wishing that the matriarchal rule had been more deeply explored since it would have greatly contrasted the world in which Creel and her other human friends live.

Conclusion

This book wasn’t my favorite in the series, and I think some content would be better removed or revised. In the story, we do get a satisfying conclusion for Creel and Shardas, which is nice. I saw another review in which someone suggested that the author could have included the high notes of this third book as an epilogue in the second book, and I think that’s an interesting idea.

While the writing in the book feels very suited to middle grade readers, some of the content and characters ages make it better suited to older readers. Creel is nearly an adult herself, and busy planning her wedding, for example.

All in all, I’m not sure this is a book I would recommend. I am glad I finished Creel’s journey. Dragon Slippers, the first book in the series, was a lot of fun. It tells a complete story that I think readers could treat as a standalone.

Content Notes for Dragon Spear

Recommended for Ages 10 to 14.

Problematic Content
Creel encounters people described as being primitive and tribal. At first, she believes they have darker skin with white tattoos. She learns the white markings are their actual skin tone, which they preserve by covering the skin with leather pieces while they sleep in the sun. To try to fool the group into believing she is one of them, she darkens her skin. I think this was supposed to come across like a spying disguise, but I couldn’t help thinking that it sounded an awful lot like blackface. The representation of the dragon-enslaved people Creel meets is also problematic and depends on some harmful tropes.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing. A wedding.

Spiritual Content
Creel and the dragon characters discuss the history and lore of the dragons, including practices dating back to the first queen.

Violent Content
Situations of peril. Enemies capture Creel and her allies and hold them by force. A group of dragons enslaves humans, forcing them to do their bidding.

Drug Content
Enemy dragons drug Velika to keep her sedated while imprisoned.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use but help support this blog. All opinions are my own.