By Andrea Beatriz Arango
Random House, 2025
272 pages
978-0-593-81092-7
Ages 9-13
Puerto Rican American middle schooler Vale’s identity is largely tied to being an ultra-competitive, nationally ranked junior fencer. But an accident has left her with the lasting effects of a serious leg injury. Vale has not only lost valuable time away from fencing, but she may be facing a lifetime of chronic pain. The fact that she’s still healing on her first day back at training isn’t the only thing that worries her; she was once the best among her training peers, but now there’s a new fencer, Myrka (Cuban American), who’s as good as Vale was pre-accident. This novel in verses deftly traverses Vale’s emotional landscape as she experiences feelings on many fronts. She wonders whether she is now disabled—a topic explored with sensitivity and nuance. She is jealous of Myrka, who has considerable fencing skills despite an attitude not nearly as competitive as Vale’s own, and on whom she is also developing a crush. Her complicated feelings extend to her loving, supportive parents and big brother Luis Manuel, whose suggestions about her recovery are well-meant but sometimes misguided or make Vale feel unseen. A new friend at school becomes someone in whom Vale can confide in about her fears of life without fencing and process her budding crush on Myrka. The poetic text zings with Vale’s frustrations, grief, and growth in the face of uncertainty in the present and going forward. ©2025 Cooperative Children’s Book Center