Alex as Well

Despite her parents’ insistence, Alex knows she’s a girl. And while she’s still discovering her personal history, this battle has old roots: born intersex, Alex was declared a boy and put on hormones. Now 14, she has stopped taking her meds, transferred to a co-ed school, and is intent on changing her life. The costs are high: Alex’s father leaves, and her emotionally unstable mother loses whatever grip she had. Brugman (Finding Grace) gives Alex a running dialogue with her male self (also Alex), who was trained in masculinity, and doesn’t always know how to handle himself around girls or during the modeling gigs that Alex lands. Both Alexes are game, clear, and sometimes funny, and watching Alex navigate her new terrain is rewarding. But the book also includes Alex’s mother’s distraught, typo-riddled posts to a parenting website (complete with reader comments), which feels gimmicky and ill advised. While these passages show that parenting an intersex child can be confusing, they give readers information Alex doesn’t have, dramatically lessen sympathy for Alex’s mother, and aren’t needed to make Alex relatable. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)