Almost Perfect

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher just won the 2011 Stonewall Book Award - awarded for the best GLBT books of the year.

Logan Witherspoon is a high school senior in a small town in Missouri. He has been adrift since his girlfriend of three years broke up with him. But when the new girl, Sage Hendricks, walking into his biology class his focus changes.

Sage is not like the other girls at the school. She is outgoing and bold - the opposite of how a new student usually acts - and she is beautiful. Logan immediately stops thinking about his ex and starts thinking about Sage.

When he asks her out to a movie in the college town 30 minutes away, Sage says she would love to but cannot. She is not allowed to date. She has been home schooled since seventh grade and is only in public school now because she is 18 and her parents couldn't really stop her.

By sneaking out and meeting Logan, Sage and Logan start to date. But when Logan tries to kiss her, Sage runs away. Because Sage has a secret. Although she is a girl, she was born in the body of a boy. After an initial freak out when he finds out, Logan attempts to understand what Sage is telling him.

Katcher has created a realistic story of one woman's difficult journey to becoming who she was meant to be. There are definitely painful parts of this novel, but there would have to be for the story to be authentic. Katcher's book is beautiful and raw and an important piece of literature for our time.

Katcher, Brian. (2009). Almost Perfect. New York: Delacourte Press.