Just Ash
Binding: Hardcover
Age 14+
Children's & Young Adult Fiction & True Stories
A heartrending but ultimately empowering journey of an intersex boy learning to embrace both his body and his identity.
Ashley Bishop lives in Salem, Massachusetts and is descended from the first victim of the Salem witch trials, Bridget Bishop. He's also intersex—born with both male and female genitalia. He's been raised as a boy in accordance with his wishes, but at the beginning of his junior year of high school, Ash gets his first period in front of the entire boys' soccer team. Now his friends and teachers view him differently, and his own mother thinks he should "try being a girl." Gradually, Ash realizes that he needs to stand up for who he really is, or the cost of his silence might destroy his life.
Creators
Intersex author Sol Santana became one of only a handful of women to make the rank of Eagle Scout before being shunned by President Trump in 2017. She later turned in her badge. Her writing has received commendations from President Obama and NYS Assemblyman William Colton. She is studying to be a preschool teacher.
Reviews
A page-turning, harrowing, but ultimately empowering tour-de-force, Just Ash is the intersex #ownvoices YA book the world has been waiting for. Occasionally hilarious, sometimes devastating, and always honest, it’s a must read for all humans.
Harrowing but hopeful.
Kirkus Reviews
