painful book. It is an autobiographical memoir about a young girl growing up, with one of the few constant things in her life being competitive ice skating. Also, from about the age of 5, she has known that she is gay, though she does not tell anyone for fear of being rejected or worse.

Much of this book takes place in skating rinks, but it is mostly
about a search for identity and acceptance. Tillie has a few
friendships, though they get disrupted when her family
moves from New Jersey to Texas, where ice skating is a rarer and less
popular thing. Tillie has a rough relationship with her family. She is a
twin, though she does not seem especially close to her brother. He
appears only sporadically in the book. Her father is ajokester who
usually ends up taking her to early morning practices, but their
conversations are merely functional. Her mother seems distant and moody,
and what we see of her makes her seem prickly at best.

Although she is "good" at skating, Tillie does not seem especially fond of it. She seems to be going through the motions over 12 years, skating and competing but really looking for something else. She is searching for some connection, whether it be a friend or mentor. Ironically, because she feels sad and alone, she takes part in a sport where she has to go off frequently and be alone. And cold, it's also cold out on the ice.

Author/artist Tillie Walden is the creator behind this book. Only 21 years old, she already has been nominated for