Sasha Masha

September 1, 2020
Grades 9-12 It started as a lark: 17-year-old Alex and his best friend, Mabel, were trying on clothes that Mabel's aunt had given her, and coming up with amusing names for themselves. When Alex puts on a dress, he feels like Russian royalty and regally tells Mabel she may call him Sasha Masha. Thinking about it later, he remembers how exciting it had felt to wear the dress?and how dangerous. Regardless, by then he is dating Tracy, the smartest person in their class, and when he is with her, everything feels easy and right, which is what he wanted; this was the boy he wanted to be. But then he meets a boy with blue hair and then there is another dress, and Alex doesn't know what to think. Borinsky does an excellent job of taking the reader inside Sasha Masha's troubled mind as he agonizes over his identity. The result is a memorably offbeat coming-of age-novel that is sure to resonate with readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2020
A transgender teen navigates new relationships and heartache in the midst of an awakening identity. Everything about White, Jewish, 17-year-old Sasha Masha's life feels wrong. Polite smiles and good grades mask underlying surges of sadness. When Sasha Masha's bold, queer best friend moves away, junior year becomes a time of grappling with identity outside of this friendship. An unexpected romance blossoms with Black girl Tracy, an academic superstar, and for the first time Sasha Masha starts to feel like a "Real" person. Despite how much Sasha Masha wants a relationship with Tracy, it's a struggle to open up and express that something feels wrong until desperation leads to a community meeting of queer teens. Written in the first-person, this coming-of-age story offers an intimate view of self-discovery. Queer community and history play a refreshing significance in Sasha Masha's personal revelations. Finding a name is a turning point within the narrative, so for most of the book other characters use Sasha Masha's deadname. Characters model consent within their relationships, demonstrating the importance of asking before making any physical advance. The small cast of characters shows awareness of diversity and the impact of racial privilege. Unlike in many coming-out stories, Sasha Masha doesn't arrive at a clear resolution possessing all the answers, instead displaying a sense of peace with the ongoing journey ahead. A sensitive and vulnerable story of self-growth. (appendix) (Fiction. 14-18)

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September 28, 2020
A good student well liked by his Baltimore classmates, 17-year-old Sasha Masha, who is white and Jewish, nevertheless begins his junior year lonely and inescapably sad. His adventurous, queer best friend has just moved away, and he’s beginning to feel disconnected from his peers and his body. A blossoming romantic relationship, his first, is by turns exciting and frustrating—he likes his driven, smart girlfriend but often feels that he is an “in-between” person whom she can never understand. Just when things feel truly unbearable, he encounters a group of queer teens whose informal lessons on LGBTQ community and history guide him toward self-acceptance and his first time wearing a dress. In straightforward first-person prose, debut novelist Borinsky captures the ups and downs of teenage soul-searching, struggling to define one’s gender, and coming out as trans. Though intersectionally diverse secondary characters can lack depth, they model refreshingly supportive behavior and encouragement. Sasha Masha—who uses he/him pronouns throughout the novel and is referred to by his deadname for the first half of the book—is a well-crafted, memorable protagonist whose voice rings true and whose experiences will resonate as he learns to accept that his journey, like any questioning person’s, is an ongoing one. Ages 14–up. Agent: Ross Harris, Stuart Krichevsky Literary.

October 1, 2020

Gr 9 Up-Just as Alex Shapelsky, a white Jewish boy from Baltimore, finally starts to feel "Real"-dating a girl, finding friends at school-a memory resurfaces that shatters his sense of self. He recalls trying on a vintage green velvet dress and calling himself a new name: Sasha Masha. Borinsky captures Alex's disjointed journey to understanding what that name means for his identity, as he learns about queer and transgender history and develops an enormous crush on his new friend Andre, a Latino boy with a shock of blue hair, who introduces Alex (as Sasha Masha) to Baltimore's queer youth culture. The novel's biggest strength is Sasha Masha's uniquely precise and cerebral voice, which captures his state of mental turmoil through his neurotic, repetitive meditations on himself, the world, and what makes people "Real." Ultimately, Sasha Masha decides he doesn't have to figure out all the details of his identity at once. While Sasha Masha's character and voice take center stage, the novel's meandering plot and rushed conclusion undercut the effectiveness of the story. In addition, the minor characters of Coco and Green, a 50-something drag queen and his partner, who teach Sasha Masha about queer ancestors, represent a particular version of queerness, verging on caricature, that will resonate with some readers but may alienate many others. VERDICT This novel depicts one queer teen's journey to self-knowledge, but its uneven quality makes it an additional purchase for larger library collections, where titles by Meredith Russo and David Levithan are popular.-Molly Saunders, Manatee County P.L., Bradenton, FL

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2021
Before Sasha Masha, there was Alex; a soon-to-be-junior struggling to make sense of who he is and where he belongs. The only person who seems to understand him is his best friend, Mabel. She was there the day Alex put on the green velvet dress and became Sasha Masha, the elegant and unafraid. When Mabel moves away, Alex worries he'll return to school more misunderstood than ever. But this year holds many surprises for Alex, some of which he accepts reluctantly (such as his first girlfriend) and others he leans into with an excitement and openness he never expected. It doesn't take long for Alex to realize something doesn't feel right in his new relationship, and soon his confusion brings him to a queer teen group where he meets the gender-bending, ever-confident Andre. Andre introduces Alex to the world he's been looking for: a world full of drag, dancing, and the freedom to be yourself. Borinsky walks the reader slowly and thoughtfully through Alex's transformation without rushing past the uncomfortable and often painful parts of his journey. The tone of the book shifts alongside Alex, moving from quiet and morose with his discomfort to one of excitement and hopefulness as Sasha Masha is further revealed. The book's conclusion is satisfying in its open-endedness, leaving both protagonist and reader with a great curiosity and optimism for what comes next.

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

January 1, 2021
Before Sasha Masha, there was Alex; a soon-to-be-junior struggling to make sense of who he is and where he belongs. The only person who seems to understand him is his best friend, Mabel. She was there the day Alex put on the green velvet dress and became Sasha Masha, the elegant and unafraid. When Mabel moves away, Alex worries he'll return to school more misunderstood than ever. But this year holds many surprises for Alex, some of which he accepts reluctantly (such as his first girlfriend) and others he leans into with an excitement and openness he never expected. It doesn't take long for Alex to realize something doesn't feel right in his new relationship, and soon his confusion brings him to a queer teen group where he meets the gender-bending, ever-confident Andre. Andre introduces Alex to the world he's been looking for: a world full of drag, dancing, and the freedom to be yourself. Borinsky walks the reader slowly and thoughtfully through Alex's transformation without rushing past the uncomfortable and often painful parts of his journey. The tone of the book shifts alongside Alex, moving from quiet and morose with his discomfort to one of excitement and hopefulness as Sasha Masha is further revealed. The book's conclusion is satisfying in its open-endedness, leaving both protagonist and reader with a great curiosity and optimism for what comes next. Hill Saxton

(Copyright 2021 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)