And She Was

December 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-When 18-year-old Dara finds her long-hidden birth certificate and discovers that her mother, Mellie, is a transgender woman, she sets off to find her biological mother's family and unravel some of the secrets surrounding her childhood. As she and her best friend Sam travel south, Mellie sends Dara long, brutally honest emails detailing her transition and the choices she made. Although this novel centers Dara's experience of learning about her mother's past, Mellie's emails are, by far, the strongest aspect of the novel. They provide a complex first-person narrative of Mellie's journey from childhood to adulthood, in an unflinching portrayal of the abuse, social rejection, suicidal ideation, and eventual self-acceptance. Dara's somewhat predictable road-trip story and budding romance with her best friend break up the intensity of Mellie's narrative and build suspense between the revelatory emails. However, the more complex elements of Dara's character, such as her professional tennis ambitions and class-related struggles, are never fully developed in the text. Instead, Dara's story ultimately serves as an opportunity for readers to learn about contemporary transgender issues by her side. VERDICT Despite its uneven character and plot development, this novel offers a compelling reading experience, making it a valuable addition to library collections.-Molly Saunders, Homewood Public Library, AL

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from January 1, 2018
Eighteen-year-old white tennis phenom Dara is so good that her coach wants her to start competing in tournaments, and she'll need a passport--but her single mother, Mellie, is short on cash and has no interest in supporting Dara's tennis career.Mellie insists she lost Dara's birth certificate, but one day after Mellie leaves for work, Dara finds it in a locked box--along with other secrets that flip her world over. Her birth mother was struck by a car and killed before Dara turned 1, and Mellie--her father--is transgender and kept it all from Dara. Furious and hurt and accompanied by her Indian-American best friend, Sam, Dara goes to find her birth mother's family. Mellie's baffling series of lies to her daughter is revealed to have very good reasons, and the story behind them unfolds in a series of emails Mellie sends to Dara as she's on the road. Dara is the main character, but Mellie is the book's heart, and she's incredible: a complicated, soulful, talented, and loving transwoman whose emails could be their own book. Verdi's respect and care are evident in every character in the book, no matter how brief their appearance, especially boy-next-door Sam and Dara's wealthy, ultraconservative grandparents, who, although they do some terrible things, aren't written off as evil. Verdi's book is a triumph--an exquisite mirror in which trans parents and their children will see themselves. And for once, the reflection won't break their hearts. (Fiction. 14-adult)

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November 15, 2017
Grades 9-12 When aspiring tennis-pro Dara digs up her birth certificate, she is not prepared to find two strangers' names listed as her parents. It turns out Mellie, Dara's mother and the only parent she's known, is a trans woman. The name listed under father is Mellie, and Dara's birth mother died when she was a baby. Feeling confused and betrayed, Dara and her best friend, Sam, set out to find her wealthy maternal grandparents, who she just found out existed. The narrative bounces between Dara's search and e-mails from Mellie to Dara, outlining Mellie's abusive childhood, eventual transition, and the heartbreaking events that led them to living a deeply private life. Dara is confused, hurting, and obsessed with tennis, and although she comes off as self-absorbed through much of the story, she gains a bit of empathy and understanding as her new reality sinks in. Mellie's e-mails are full of information, regret, and deep love for her daughter, and though it's a slightly clunky plot device, both women's flaws and growth ring true.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2019
Eighteen-year-old tennis star Dara is shocked to unearth a family secret: her single mother, Mellie, transitioned from male to female after Dara's birth mother died in an accident. Reeling, Dara hits the road to locate her grandparents; along the way, emails from Mellie fill in missing family history. While the road-trip story line is rather generic, the sensitive depiction of a delicate family issue is noteworthy.

(Copyright 2019 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)