The Passing Playbook (by Isaac Fitzsimons)

As I continue to work through the two three books I'm reading that are left over from last year, I quickly zipped through this young adult novel, for the category "a novel about a trans character written by a trans author." It's about a soccer player who, bullied at his previous school for coming out as trans, transfers to a new, progressive school and has to decide if he wants to pass or to come out here too.  Throw in some romance with a fellow player from a hellfire and brimstone Christian family and voila, this book.

This debut author clearly wanted a feel-good trans story, and I'm glad that trans kids have this book! But as an adult, the unrealistic elements of it and the rushed, too-good-to-be-true conclusion didn't quite work for me. That said, there are some wonderful elements here, and it's interesting to read a trans YA from the point of view of a very privileged character who, for the most part, understands his own privilege.  I would recommend Stay Gold by Tobly McSmith or If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo ahead of this one, but I think the YA canon needs more trans books and I look forward to seeing what Isaac Fitzsimons does next.