Spin with Me

From the author of the critically acclaimed Gracefully Grayson comes a thoughtful and sensitive middle-grade novel about nonbinary identity and first love, Ami Polonsky's Spin with Me.

In this elegant dual narrative, Essie is a 13-year-old girl feeling glum about starting a new school after her professor dad takes a temporary teaching position in a different town. She has 110 days here and can't wait for them to end. Then she meets Ollie: delicate, blue eyes, short hair, easy smile. At first, Essie thinks she has a typical crush on a beautiful boy. But as her crush blossoms, she soon realizes that Ollie is not a boy or a girl, but gender nonbinary.

Meanwhile, Ollie is experiencing a crush of their own...on Essie. As Ollie struggles to balance their passion for queer advocacy with their other interests, they slowly find themselves falling for a girl whose stay is about to come to an end. Can the two unwind their merry-go-round of feelings before it's too late?

©2020 Ami Polonsky (P)2021 Tantor