Gr 8 Up—A small-town Missouri boy's world is rocked when he falls for the new girl at school, and she eventually confesses that she is a biological male. Logan's world is small, as is his mind at first, but throughout the book he grows to accept and love Sage for who—not what—she is. This remarkable book takes a hard look at the difficulties and pain experienced by young male-to-female transsexuals from an easily relatable perspective, as Julie Ann Peters did in Luna (Little, Brown, 2004). Logan is a conservative 18-year-old Everyman whose generic voice isn't—and doesn't need to be—anything special; although readers follow his growth, it is Sage's story that is truly important. A remarkably "clean" book dealing with sexuality and identity, this is neither preachy nor didactic while directly challenging prejudice and intolerance. With realistic characters and situations, it is a first purchase for all high school collections, and could easily be given to middle school readers who are undaunted by its length.—Rhona Campbell, Washington, DC Public Library
Almost Perfect
Narrated by Kirby Heyborne
Brian KatcherUnabridged — 10 hours, 42 minutes
Almost Perfect
Narrated by Kirby Heyborne
Brian KatcherUnabridged — 10 hours, 42 minutes
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Overview
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Everyone has that one line they swear they'll never cross, the one thing they say they'll never do. We draw the line. Maybe we even believe it.
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Sage Hendricks was my line.
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Logan Witherspoon befriends Sage Hendricks at a time when he no longer trusts or believes in people. He's drawn to Sage, with her constant smile and sexy voice, and his feelings for her grow so strong that he can't resist kissing her.*
Sage finally discloses a big secret: she was born a boy. Enraged, frightened, and feeling betrayed, Logan lashes out at her-a reaction he soon desperately wishes he could take back. Once his anger cools, Logan is filled with incredible regret, and all he wants is to repair his friendship with Sage.
But it's hard to replace something that's been broken-and it's even harder to find your way back to friendship when you began with love.
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“Tackles issues of homophobia, hate crimes and stereotyping with humor and grace in an accessible tone that will resonate with teens.” -Kirkus Reviews
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“It is Sage's story that is truly important.” -SLJ
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“Teens-both those familiar with transgender issues and those who are not-will welcome the honest take on a rarely explored subject.” -Booklist
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“A sensitive examination of the seldom treated subject of transgender teens.” -VOYA
Editorial Reviews
Katcher flawlessly channels the worried and confused voice of a straight teenage boy in this honest and uncompromising take on transgender love. High-school senior Logan is stunned when outgoing new girl Sage reveals she is biologically a boy after they kiss for the first time. Logan realistically cycles through denial, anger and anxiety, finally reaching acceptance but constantly wondering whether he is brave enough to shrug off the deeply ingrained conventions of his rural upbringing. Sage is just as candidly drawn, struggling to balance her fear of being found out with her need to be seen as a "normal" girl. Domestic drama and personal tragedy ensue, and while the ending is not necessarily a happy one, both characters come full circle and begin to better understand both themselves and each other. The author tackles issues of homophobia, hate crimes and stereotyping with humor and grace in an accessible tone that will resonate with teens who may not have encountered the issue of transgender identity before. An excellent companion piece to Ellen Wittlinger's Parrotfish (2007) and Jean Ferris's Eight Seconds (2000). (Fiction. 14 & up)
“Tackles issues of homophobia, hate crimes and stereotyping with humor and grace in an accessible tone that will resonate with teens.” –Kirkus Reviews
“It is Sage's story that is truly important.” –SLJ
“Teens—both those familiar with transgender issues and those who are not—will welcome the honest take on a rarely explored subject.” –Booklist
“A sensitive examination of the seldom treated subject of transgender teens.” –VOYA
Gr 8 Up—Logan Witherspoon is nursing a broken heart after finding out that his girlfriend of three years cheated on him. Sage, the quirky new girl in his biology class—a true novelty in a small town where he has known nearly all his classmates since kindergarten—provides a welcome distraction. Sage is clever and cute and, Logan is stunned to learn, biologically male. The challenges faced by transgender teens are revealed through Sage's experiences and reflected via Logan's "every guy" perspective. His struggles with conflicting emotions about Sage are skillfully explored in Brian Katcher's Stonewall award-winning prose (Delacorte, 2009). Kirby Heyborne brings the first-person narration to life, complete with gentle shifts in voice to denote different speakers and to clearly indicate whether Logan is speaking aloud or as an aside to listeners. The realistic characters speak like real-life teenagers, including occasional cursing. Sexual situations are described with minimal detail, primarily occurring "off-page." A sensitive exploration of a topic underrepresented in YA literature, this candid novel is recommended for high school and public libraries.—Beth Gallego, Los Angeles Public Library, CA
Kirby Heyborne’s performance of ALMOST PERFECT is perfect. He nails each character and delivers raw emotion without drawing attention to the performance itself. High school senior Logan’s first girlfriend cheated on him. He can’t get over her—until he meets Sage, a crazy, beautiful, curvy, well-muscled girl who is almost six feet tall. Sage doesn’t date and won’t say why. After months as “just friends,” their first kiss spurs Sage to tell her secret: She was born a boy. Heyborne voices Logan’s feelings of betrayal, and near-violent revulsion, with hair-raising believability. Both teens defend their sexual identities in this compelling and compassionate story about love and transgender sexuality. A.M.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940169087840 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Penguin Random House |
| Publication date: | 09/13/2011 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
Almost Perfect
By Brian Katcher
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Copyright © 2009 Brian KatcherAll right reserved.
ISBN: 9780385906203
chapter one
I’m not sure what I loved most about being on the track team. Maybe it was the crippling shin splints. Or constantly feeling like I’d just smoked three packs of cigarettes. Maybe it was the empty stands at every meet, or the way the results got buried in the local sports section.
The football field was by far the best feature of Boyer, Missouri. My hometown, which barely boasted two thousand people, pumped nearly every tax dollar they could into maintaining the facility. The city of Boyer was little more than a half-dozen trailer parks, an electronics factory, and five churches, but the football field was always pristine. The maintenance staff mowed the grass twice a week and watered it every day in the summer. The bleachers gleamed, the locker rooms sparkled, and the scoreboard towered like some great pagan idol. The crumbling structure of Boyer High School stood across the parking lot, almost as an afterthought.
Us track poseurs were permitted to run the perimeter of the sacred field, but only when the football heroes had no use for it. During the fall we had to run laps in the parking lot while the Boyer Bears practiced. One time we were run off by the marching band, which gives you an idea of where we stood in the school food chain.
It was mid-November. My friendJack Seversen and I had managed to squeeze in some after-school running, trying to stay in shape for the winter. The cold wind chilled my sweat-soaked body, making me shiver and swelter at the same time. Exhausted and thirsty, I walked a final lap to avoid muscle cramps, then limped toward the watercooler.
“You suck, Logan!” shouted Jack, jogging up behind me. Even though he’d run as much as I had, he was still vibrating with raw energy. Thin as a whip and gangly, Jack reminded me of a broken fan belt, wildly flailing in no particular direction. Track wasn’t a sport for him; it was merely an excuse to move.
“Hey, check it out.” He jabbed his bony, spastic hand toward the football field. The Boyer cheerleaders were wrapping up their practice. I’d heard that in bigger towns, only the pretty, graceful girls made the squads. In Boyer, with a student body of about two hundred, the only membership requirement was a majority of intact limbs and the ability to bend at the waist.
Jack and I reached the water table. I chugged a couple of cups, while my friend, in spite of the low temperature, dumped his over his head. He shook like a wet dog. Eventually, he managed to focus on me. Even then, his protruding brown eyes spun in their orbits like a weather vane in March. Jack had that intense mania common in serial killers and car salesmen.
“You should go talk to Tanya. She likes you.”
Without meaning to, I glanced over at the squad. I could just make out Tanya’s form as she did jumping jacks with the others.
“It’s a wonder she doesn’t knock herself out,” I muttered. In elementary school (in Boyer, you knew all your classmates since kindergarten), Tanya had been the fat girl. Then, in eighth grade, most of her body mass had migrated into her chest. She wasn’t exactly bikini material, but she did have a couple of good points.
“C’mon, Logan. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t like to press your face into her chest and make motorboat noises.”
I stifled a laugh. “Piss off, Jack.”
I walked over to the bleachers and grabbed my bag from next to my old bike. Jack followed me, almost uncomfortably closely, and then suddenly grabbed my shoulder.
“Dude, it’s time to get back in the game.”
I yanked away. “Drop it, okay?”
He didn’t drop it. “You’re a senior, Logan. In May, we leave this place forever. Don’t spend your last semester moping about your ex-girlfriend.”
I stormed into the gymnasium, a blocky building that we shared with the middle school next door. I made sure I was alone in the locker room. Then I drove my fist into a metal door. The sound echoed through the empty room. Pain radiated through my wrist and shoulder.
Jack thought he was being helpful. He thought Brenda had just been another girl. For the past month, he’d been trying to fix me up. To him, all I needed to do was make out with some random chick and I’d forget about how Brenda had dumped me.
To be quite honest, she never actually dumped me. It was her decision to sleep with another guy that had put the strain on our three-year relationship.
I quickly stripped down and hopped in the shower. As the stall steamed up, I thought about Brenda. The homecoming dance in early October. I’d sold my baseball card collection just to pay for her corsage and had to drive to nearby Columbia to rent my tuxedo.
I paused, midlather, remembering that night. My tux hadn’t fit exactly right; my arms were too long and my chest too broad. With my advanced hairline and jutting forehead, I’d thought I resembled a shaved ape. Even with my mom’s help, I looked like some Mafia don’s bodyguard; a muscle-bound lummox, washed and dressed for a night out with sophisticated people.
Brenda had told me I looked suave, like a James Bond supervillain. She’d said I had the face of an angel and the body of a god. I found out later she didn’t always tell the truth.
Brenda had been dolled up like someone you’d see on a movie poster. Her long black hair had been styled at the local salon. She’d worn blush on her high cheekbones and had left her glasses at home, even though that meant she was almost blind. Her dark blue dress had exposed her smooth shoulders. As I strapped the corsage onto her delicate wrist, I’d felt a sting of electricity shoot through my arm, down my legs, and out the heels of my rented shoes. Of the dozens and dozens of guys in Boyer, Brenda had chosen me. If I’d won a million dollars in the lottery the next day, I’d have called the money the other good thing that happened that week.
After the dance, I’d driven her in my mom’s car to the empty field out by the water tower. I don’t think I’d ever been that nervous. I wanted everything to be perfect. I had a blanket in the trunk and her favorite songs in the CD player. I had driven all the way out to Moberly to buy condoms.
We’d kissed for about two minutes. Then Brenda had asked me to drive her home. I could still remember the little speech she gave me as we pulled into her driveway at eleven p.m.
Logan, I’m just not ready for that. Could we wait a little longer? Please? Think about how special it will be.
As I turned off the shower and wrapped a towel tightly around my waist, I wondered how special it had been for Brenda. I just wished I could have been there.
From the Hardcover edition.
Continues...
Excerpted from Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher Copyright © 2009 by Brian Katcher. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
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