Femme

by Mette Bach

Overview

Academics have never been Sofie's strong point; shes too busy spending all of her free time with her boyfriend, Paul, the captain of her Surrey high school's soccer team. When her English teacher implements a new program that pairs her with straight-A student Clea, Sofie worries about how Paul will react to her hanging out with the only out lesbian at school. Sofie is as surprised as Paul at how close she and Clea quickly become.

When Sofie discovers that Clea is planning a road trip to check out some American colleges over the winter break, she invites herself along, causing more issues with Paul. But it's only after a college student asks if Sofie identifies as a "femme" lesbian that she starts to question her own sexuality and her relationship with both Clea and Paul.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781459407695
Publisher:	James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
Publication date:	02/07/2015
Series:	Lorimer SideStreets Series
Sold by:	De Marque
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	525 KB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

METTE BACH is the author of the Lorimer SideStreets novels Femme and Killer Drop (named a Best Book for Kids and Teens by the Canadian Children's Book Centre) and the Real Love titles Love Is Love, You're You, Cinders and Charming. She has taught ESL to high-school students and currently works at a drop-in resource centre. Mette lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Editorial Reviews

09/01/2015
Gr 9 Up—Lorimer's "SideStreets" series continues with Femme, the story of Sofie, a struggling student who values free time and her boyfriend Paul more than academic success. When she is paired up with smart, driven, out lesbian Clea, Sofie is nervous about her reputation. However, as the two grow closer, Sofie begins to question herself and her relationships. A short hi-lo title that explores the complex topic of sexuality at an accessible, third grade reading level. Teenage Stelle uses music to escape the challenges of an unhappy home life in Beyond Crazy, only to find that her bandmates have challenges of their own. Her only chance at resolution seems to lie in the convoluted conversations she has with her grandmother at her nursing home. An unflinching look at mental health issues and family dysfunction, written at a fifth-grade reading level. In Fight Back, angry teenager Tyler Josten has always used his fists as his outlet, battling whoever gets in his way. When trouble with the law sends him to foster care, Tyler is welcomed with compassion, and his violent impulses are transformed with the art of boxing. A novel aimed at high schoolers, written at a fifth- grade reading level.

School Library Journal

"Bach approaches the awakening sexuality theme with great gentleness. While the setting and characters may be familiar, the lesbian plot direction is brave new territory. Readers learn along with Sophie about the depth and breadth of this community as Bach purposefully avoids stereotypes and labels...Recommended."

CM Magazine

2015-06-29
So, is femme a sexual orientation or a gender presentation? Author Bach wraps this complicated question around the affable protagonist, Sofie, a "C-student" high schooler living in the real town of Surrey, located near Vancouver, British Columbia. What she looks forward to after high school is life with her star-athlete boyfriend, Paul, who pledges to take care of her by working at the family auto dealership even as she vaguely wishes to become a chef. Sofie's aspirations—and life—change when her English teacher pairs her with Clea Thompson, whom Sofie describes as a "totally straight-A student" intent on winning a scholarship. Clea is also a mixed-race, out lesbian who leads the school's Gay-Straight Alliance. Refreshingly, the author takes their racial difference as a matter of course, not a literary public-service announcement about interracial relationships. Nor does she frame Sofie's changing views on her shifting relationships with Paul, Clea, and even her mom with heavy-handedness: Sofie's shift regarding her present love and future life come from a healing touch, a clarifying word, and some tough conversations. The novel isn't a treatise about queer identities, so it doesn't offer an answer on what this complicated concept means. But it's a great introduction to how gender identity can be a segue for a love that, even in 2015, cannot speak its name. (Fiction. 14-17)

Kirkus Reviews