Spinning

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About Spinning

Product Description Tillie Walden's Eisner Award winning graphic memoir Spinning captures what it’s like to come of age, come out, and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know.It was the same every morning. Wake up, grab the ice skates, and head to the rink while the world was still dark.Weekends were spent in glitter and tights at competitions. Perform. Smile. And do it again.She was good. She won. And she hated it.For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Walden’s life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing at ice rinks across the state. Skating was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies, and family. But as she switched schools, got into art, and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the close-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life, and whether all the work was worth it given the reality: that she, and her friends on the team, were nowhere close to Olympic hopefuls. The more Tillie thought about it, the more Tillie realized she’d outgrown her passion―and she finally needed to find her own voice.This title has Common Core connections.A New York City Public Library Notable Best Book for TeensA Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2017A 2018 YALSA Great Graphic NovelA 2017 Booklist Youth Editors' Choice From School Library Journal Gr 6 Up—A graphic memoir about competitive ice skating, growing up, and coming out. Walden spent much of her youth on the ice, at practices and competitions, and in locker rooms among friends, frenemies, and competitors. In this deeply personal reflection, the author/illustrator is unflinching in her examination of what drove her passion for the sport, the embarrassments and experiences that marked pivotal moments in her development, and how she eventually came out to family and friends as a young teen. The art is economical, with a simple indigo and white palette with very occasional splashes of yellow, lending the book an appropriately cold tone; readers will shiver with empathy as Walden steps onto the rink in the early morning before the sun rises. While her drive and commitment to being the best athlete is evident (at one point, she describes sleeping in her practice clothes on top of her blankets, not allowing herself to get warm so that the early morning transition would be easier), the details about some of her relationships are held at arm's length and only hinted at, most notably the strained relationship with her mother. A scene in which a male tutor sexually harasses Walden and attempts a physical assault is affecting and may spark deeper discussion. Her first romantic relationship is both tender and heartbreaking. VERDICT An honest and intimate coming-of-age story that will be appreciated by tweens and young teens, especially those in competitive sports.—Kiera Parrott, School Library Journal Review “[A] stark, gripping graphic novel memoir.” ―Washington Post, “These books can help build strong girls―and boys―for today's world”“Tillie Walden's Spinning is an engrossing, gorgeously quiet look back at the 12 years she devoted to figure and synchronized skating.” ―New York Times“Intimate and compelling. A quiet powerhouse of a memoir.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review“An elegant, contemplative, and somber graphic memoir . . . A haunting and resonant coming-of-age story.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review“Quiet and lyrical . . . and deeply satisfying. A stirring, gorgeously illustrated story of finding the strength to follow one’s own path.” ―Booklist, starred review“An honest and intimate coming-of-age story that will be appreciated by tweens and young teens, especially those in competitive sports.” ―School Library Journal“An accessible introduction to the graphic novel form. Older readers will want to graduate from this to Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home.” ―The Bulletin of the Center for Children