web stats
Friday, March 5, 2021
  • HOME
  • LATEST
  • WORLD
    • AFRICA
    • AMERICA
    • ASIA PACIFIC
    • EUROPE
    • MIDDLE EAST
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • BUSINESS
    • ECONOMY
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
  • SPORTS
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • TENNIS
    • SOCCER
    • CRICKET
    • BASEBALL
  • HEALTH
  • SCI-TECH
  • MORE
    • TRAVEL
    • REFUGEES
    • FOOD & DRINK
    • ARTS
      • ART & DESIGN
      • BOOKS
      • MOVIES
  • HOME
  • LATEST
  • WORLD
    • AFRICA
    • AMERICA
    • ASIA PACIFIC
    • EUROPE
    • MIDDLE EAST
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • BUSINESS
    • ECONOMY
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
  • SPORTS
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • TENNIS
    • SOCCER
    • CRICKET
    • BASEBALL
  • HEALTH
  • SCI-TECH
  • MORE
    • TRAVEL
    • REFUGEES
    • FOOD & DRINK
    • ARTS
      • ART & DESIGN
      • BOOKS
      • MOVIES
No Result
View All Result
Home ARTS BOOKS

Figuring It Out: Two Novels About Ice Skating and Adolescence

tnewst by tnewst
January 16, 2021

RelatedPosts

Covid-19 Live Updates: Global Vaccine Push Fuels a New Race, This Time for Syringes

Jon Gosselin Invites His Estranged Children With Kate Gosselin to His Home to Rebuild Relationship – E! Online

A Leading Critic of Big Tech Will Join the White House

Meanwhile, she starts to realize how much her single mother has sacrificed to make her dreams a possibility. But Ana isn’t sure what her dreams are anymore. Even with her success on the ice, she has never felt at home in her own skin, and not because of her unusual half-Chinese, half-Jewish heritage. She finds herself wincing when people call her “Miss” or use her full name, and she can’t shake the visceral shudder she feels when pressured into acting like a typical girl. Still, she can’t pinpoint the source of her anguish.

While her best friend, Tamar, texts constantly, wanting to hear about her life at the new rink, Ana is fascinated by a skater named Hayden who has just moved to the area from Minnesota and will be starting group lessons. Ana works as a skating assistant and is curious as to why Hayden’s mom has requested an update to his name and asked everyone to use male pronouns for him. She learns terms she never knew before — gender-neutral, nonbinary — and an entire world opens up to her, one she desperately wants to explore but doesn’t understand why. “Can people really ask others to call them whatever they want?” she asks herself, since she doesn’t trust anyone to give her the answer.

When they meet, Hayden starts calling Ana “Alex” and thinks she’s a boy because she’s wearing the wrong name tag by mistake. She doesn’t correct him. Ana becomes good friends with Hayden, spending a lot of time with him and his family, who all think she’s one of the guys. Every time she has an opening to clear up the misunderstanding she doesn’t take it. She even goes so far as to avoid entering a public bathroom in front of him. Ana wants to clarify her identity in her own mind before she defines herself to others.

Tamar feels her pull away and misconstrues her evasion as selfishness. Her mom and her coach are kept in the dark about her hatred of the new program and costume. If she can’t even get her mother to call her Ana instead of Ana-Marie, how can she explain that she doesn’t know where she fits in terms of gender?

“It’s not my body that makes me feel uncomfortable, or the shimmering, sparkling costume,” Ana realizes when she looks in the mirror at herself in the “Sleeping Beauty” dress. “It’s what other people will think of me when they see me wearing it: girl, princess, Intermediate lady.”

Setting the record straight is hard to do when you don’t know what your truth is, especially at 12. Ana has some difficult encounters when she finally unburdens herself to Tamar, to her mom, to her coach and, toughest of all, to Hayden. But their responses surprise her. She feels at peace with letting go of her secrets and ready to make her own choices — at school, at home, at the rink.

Sass has created dynamic, original characters who are believable and fun to follow. Sometimes it’s unclear where he’s going with his story lines — especially Hayden’s love of cosplay, which he introduces halfway through the novel — but the plot comes together nimbly toward the end. You can’t help rooting for Ana, though we’re left wondering how she will move forward. “I haven’t figured out if I want to try different pronouns yet,” she tells her mother, “so you can keep using ‘she’ for now.”

Ana decides to continue skating, and raises the possibility of competing someday in the men’s category, a new challenge that could be a book in itself.

Related Posts

LATEST

Covid-19 Live Updates: Global Vaccine Push Fuels a New Race, This Time for Syringes

March 5, 2021
ENTERTAINMENT

Jon Gosselin Invites His Estranged Children With Kate Gosselin to His Home to Rebuild Relationship – E! Online

March 5, 2021
BUSINESS

A Leading Critic of Big Tech Will Join the White House

March 5, 2021
BASEBALL

Trea Turner Won’t Steal 75 Bases. He’s Too Good.

March 5, 2021
LATEST

In Pictures: Pope Francis in Iraq

March 5, 2021
ASIA PACIFIC

China’s Plan to Win in a Post-Pandemic World: What You Need to Know

March 5, 2021
Load More




Recommended

A Massacre in a Forest Becomes a Test of Poland’s Pushback on Wartime Blame

4 weeks ago

Your Friday Briefing

2 months ago

Popular News

  • Popular Drug Does Not Alleviate Mild Covid-19 Symptoms, Study Finds

    Popular Drug Does Not Alleviate Mild Covid-19 Symptoms, Study Finds

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry’ Review: Fame and Family

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0




Recommended

A Massacre in a Forest Becomes a Test of Poland’s Pushback on Wartime Blame

4 weeks ago

Your Friday Briefing

2 months ago

Popular News

  • Popular Drug Does Not Alleviate Mild Covid-19 Symptoms, Study Finds

    Popular Drug Does Not Alleviate Mild Covid-19 Symptoms, Study Finds

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry’ Review: Fame and Family

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Facebook Twitter Pinterest
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

‘Moi les hommes, je les déteste’ met le doigt là où ça fait mal

January 10, 2021

The Workweek Diary of a Plant-Loving Home Décor Guru

December 23, 2020
Should Companies Require Employees to Take the Vaccine?

Should Companies Require Employees to Take the Vaccine?

December 12, 2020

Covid-19 Live Updates: Global Vaccine Push Fuels a New Race, This Time for Syringes

0

Hockey Needs Viewers. It Should Not Glorify Pain and Violence to Get Them.

0

One of the Lightning’s Cornerstones Was Out. The Other Stepped Up.

0

Covid-19 Live Updates: Global Vaccine Push Fuels a New Race, This Time for Syringes

March 5, 2021

Jon Gosselin Invites His Estranged Children With Kate Gosselin to His Home to Rebuild Relationship – E! Online

March 5, 2021

A Leading Critic of Big Tech Will Join the White House

March 5, 2021

Category

  • AFRICA
  • AMERICA
  • ART & DESIGN
  • ARTS
  • ASIA PACIFIC
  • BASEBALL
  • BOOKS
  • BUSINESS
  • ECONOMY
  • ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • EUROPE
  • GOLF
  • HEALTH
  • HOCKEY
  • LATEST
  • MIDDLE EAST
  • MOVIES
  • REFUGEES
  • SCI-TECH
  • SMALL BUSINESS
  • SOCCER
  • SPORTS
  • TENNIS
  • TRAVEL
  • Uncategorized
  • WORLD

Recent Posts

  • Covid-19 Live Updates: Global Vaccine Push Fuels a New Race, This Time for Syringes
  • Jon Gosselin Invites His Estranged Children With Kate Gosselin to His Home to Rebuild Relationship – E! Online
  • A Leading Critic of Big Tech Will Join the White House
  • Trea Turner Won’t Steal 75 Bases. He’s Too Good.
  • In Pictures: Pope Francis in Iraq
  • China’s Plan to Win in a Post-Pandemic World: What You Need to Know
  • She Was a Star of New Palestinian Music. Then She Played Beside the Mosque.
  • 32 Rescued From Sinking Fishing Boat: ‘Every Moment Counts’
  • Popular Drug Does Not Alleviate Mild Covid-19 Symptoms, Study Finds
  • Arnold Palmer’s Legacy Hints at What Tiger Woods Might Leave Behind

Home | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Contact Us
TheNewsTimes © 2020 All Rights Reserved

No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • LATEST
  • WORLD
    • AFRICA
    • AMERICA
    • ASIA PACIFIC
    • EUROPE
    • MIDDLE EAST
  • ENTERTAINMENT
  • BUSINESS
    • ECONOMY
    • SMALL BUSINESS
    • ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
  • SPORTS
    • GOLF
    • HOCKEY
    • TENNIS
    • SOCCER
    • CRICKET
    • BASEBALL
  • HEALTH
  • SCI-TECH
  • MORE
    • TRAVEL
    • REFUGEES
    • FOOD & DRINK
    • ARTS
      • ART & DESIGN
      • BOOKS
      • MOVIES

Home | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | Contact Us
TheNewsTimes © 2020 All Rights Reserved