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LIKE OTHER GIRLS by Britta Lundin Kirkus Star

LIKE OTHER GIRLS

by Britta Lundin

Pub Date: Aug. 3rd, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-368-03992-5
Publisher: Freeform/Disney

Closeted Mara Deeble, who’s always been one of the guys, confronts her own internalized misogyny after she joins her high school’s football team and four other girls follow suit.

In rural Elkhorn, Oregon, life revolves around ranching, church, and sports—but Mara’s aggression got her kicked off the basketball team last winter, and Coach Joyce won’t let her rejoin without proof that she can play a team sport without fighting. She’s certainly not trying to make a feminist statement when she joins her quarterback brother on the football team, but after her intense, out-and-proud lesbian archnemesis, Carly Nakata; her gorgeous, tomboyish crush, Valentina Cortez; and two more girls join too, claiming Mara inspired them, everyone’s talking about gender—and holding Mara to standards she’s uninterested in meeting. Mara is refreshingly, authentically imperfect: judgmental, impulsive, and terrified of being vulnerable yet desperate to be understood. While the Elkhorn Five face open resentment and harassment from the male players, it’s Mara’s mother’s perplexed disappointment that’s especially piercing. Thankfully, Mara finds a kindred spirit in Jupiter, an unapologetically butch farmer who is new to town and whose presence feels like “a nice long exhale.” Jupiter offers Mara—and readers—new perspectives on gender presentation and sexuality. Most characters appear White; several are cued as Latinx, and Carly is biracial (Asian/White). Readers need not like (or understand) football to wholeheartedly cheer for the Elkhorn Five.

Fiercely charming and achingly relatable—a glorious, empowering touchdown.

(Fiction. 12-18)