Skating on Mars

Gr 5 Up–Huntoon’s debut novel glitters withthe angst and happy moments in the life of a seventh grader as they navigate who they are meant to be. Mars has handled school and an intense competitive figure skating schedule just fine, but suddenly their mind is saddled with the deep sorrow of their father dying and the growing realization they want to be more public about their nonbinary identity. Supported by their mom, sister, teacher, and friend, Mars navigates the rigid binary-gendered world of figure skating, where a person can only compete within male or female categories. Deciding to prove they can perform in both divisions, Mars embarks on a plan to infiltrate a local competition as a boy. Within all this deception and chaos, Mars finally finds the courage to walk in the world as they truly are and not as the world forces them to be. While the novel takes place over a few pivotal weeks of Mars’s life, there are heartfelt flashbacks of their father that are incredibly poignant; tissues are a must. Mars has a great support system and the bullies are muffled fairly quickly, which may seem unrealistic (especially with skating federation regulations), but the fact that Mars has a great head on their shoulders and thinks things through clearly makes this a feel-good triumph. Mars’s beautifully expressed internal dialogue makes this an excellent processing story for tweens to witness firsthand the varied ways people grieve and learn how to exist in the world authentically.