Freakboy

A star high school athlete grapples with understanding who he is in this "smart, urgent, and wonderfully poetic coming out story" ( Lambda Literary). From the outside, Brendan Chase seems to have it pretty easy. He's a star wrestler, a video game aficionado, and a loving boyfriend to his seemingly perfect match, Vanessa. But on the inside, Brendan struggles to understand why his body feels so wrong—why he sometimes fantasizes having long hair, soft skin, and gentle curves. Is there even a name for guys like him? Guys who sometimes want to be girls? Or is Brendan just a freak? In Freakboy's razor-sharp verse, Kristin Clark folds three narratives into one powerful story: Brendan trying to understand his sexual identity, Vanessa fighting to keep her and Brendan's relationship alive, and Angel struggling to confront her demons. Praise for Freakboy "An important story, written with compassion and startling insight. A brave YA debut." —Ellen Hopkins, New York Times–bestselling author of the Crank trilogy "Debut novelist Clark uses free verse to write a gripping story about a complex topic: the challenges of growing up transgender or genderqueer." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) "This gutsy, tripartite poem explores a wider variety of identities—cis-, trans-, genderqueer—than a simple transgender storyline, making it stand out." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)