Author A.J. Sass continues their winning streak of middle school fiction with a new problem-solving, genderfluid protagonist who lives in northern Wisconsin. Looking for a “new normal,” thirteen-year-old Shai has rigorously researched all the things they want to do this year: come out as nonbinary, get a fitting haircut, switch from home school to public school, and stop skin-picking, which they have been keeping secret from everyone. Along the way, Shai’s list expands to include the possibility that their Jewish heritage may be something that gives their life meaning. Just Shy of Ordinary reassures middle school readers (and their parents, who may also want to pick this book up) that they cannot and do not have to do all of this by themselves.
Shai is used to excelling. They have already come out to their mother and grandparents, as well as to the man who invited Shai and their mom to move in when Shai’s mother lost her job at the beginning of the pandemic. The man has two sons, one of whom is Shai’s best friend. Now, he feels pushed aside by Shai’s new friendship with two girls at school, which leaves them no time to hang out together. Shai is excited about skipping eighth grade and heading into ninth, but this change comes with new pressures, like not always getting one hundred on a test or trying to hand an assignment in on time. Shai also feels awkward about when and how to explain themself and their identity to their new friends.
Discovering Shabbat services for an honors English project pulls Shai closer to their grandparents and their pride in Judaism, but it distances them from their mother, who seems to be guarding a secret of her own. Shai has long known the unfairness of societal assumptions about gender and sexuality, but for the first time, they must confront antisemitism when their grandparents’ synagogue is vandalized. Shai does not feel in control. All of their stress causes them to pick their skin even more.
Writing in first person, Sass moves fluidly through Shai’s first month of school, describing the school buzz about homecoming and Shai’s jazzy arm sleeves. These sleeves catch on with others; no one realizes that they are there to hide the sores on Shai’s skin. On certain pages, Shai jots down their weekly plans and thoughts in a novel-in-verse style they enjoy.
This is a nuanced, empathetic novel packed with the ups and downs of school and home life.
Sharon Elswit, author of The Jewish Story Finder, now resides in San Francisco, where she shares tales aloud in a local JCC preschool and volunteers with 826 Valencia to help students write their own stories and poems.
