For ten years, figure skating was Tillie Waldens life. She woke before dawn for morning lessons, went straight to group practice after school, and spent weekends competing in glitter and tights. It was a central piece of her identity, her safe haven from the stress of school, bullies and family. But over time, as she switched schools, got into art and fell in love with her first girlfriend, she began to question how the closed-minded world of figure skating fit in with the rest of her life. Poignant and captivating, awardwinning comics artist Tillie Waldens powerful graphic memoir captures what its like to come of age, come out and come to terms with leaving behind everything you used to know.

 

 

There are 400 pages in this book.

It is aimed at Young Adult readers. The term Young Adult (YA) is used for books which have the following characteristics: (1) aimed at ages 12-18 years, US grades 7-12, UK school years 8-15, (2) around 50-75k words long, (3) main character is aged 12-18 years, (4) topics include self-reflection, internal conflict vs external, analyzing life and its meaning, (5) point of view is often in the first person, and (6) swearing, violence, romance and sexuality are allowed.

This book was published in 2017 by SelfMadeHero .

Tillie Walden is a cartoonist and illustrator from Austin, Texas. She is a graduate of the Center for Cartoon Studies and is the creator of many award-winning graphic novels. Her accolades include an Eisner Award for Spinning , three Eisner nominations, and two Ignatz Awards. She currently lives in Los Angeles.