Ode to my first car

Title:

Ode to my first car

Author:

Summary:

"It’s a few months before senior year and Claire Kemp, a closeted bisexual, is finally starting to admit she might be falling in love with her best friend, Sophia, who she’s known since they were four. Trying to pay off the fine from the crash that totals Lars, her beloved car, Claire takes a job at the local nursing home up the street from her house. There she meets Lena, an eighty-eight-year-old lesbian woman who tells her stories about what it was like growing up gay in the 1950s and ’60s. As Claire spends more time with Lena and grows more confident of her identity, another girl, Pen, comes into the picture, and Claire is caught between two loves–one familiar and well-worn, the other new and untested." -- Amazon.com.

Audience:

Ages 14-18. Farrar Straus Giroux.

Grades 10-12. Farrar Straus Giroux.

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

340 pages ; 22 cm

Genre:

Queer fiction.

Novels in verse.

Subject Term:

Bisexual teenagers -- Fiction.

Identity (Philosophical concept) -- Fiction.

Sexual minorities -- Fiction.

Interpersonal relations -- Fiction.

Bisexual people -- Fiction.

Publisher:

Farrar Straus Giroux,

Publication Date:

2023

ISBN:

9780374388430

Publication Information:

New York : Farrar Straus Giroux, 2023.

Call Number:

YA GOW

Holds: Copies:

Available:*

Item Barcode	Collection	Call Number	Status	Item Holds
33607003607424	New Young Adult	GOW	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

By the critically praised author of A Million Quiet Revolutions , this YA contemporary sapphic romance told in verse is about a bisexual teen girl who falls in and out of love over the course of one fateful summer.

It's a few months before senior year and Claire Kemp, a closeted bisexual, is finally starting to admit she might be falling in love with her best friend, Sophia, who she's known since they were four.

Trying to pay off the fine from the crash that totals Lars, her beloved car, Claire takes a job at the local nursing home up the street from her house. There she meets Lena, an eighty-eight-year-old lesbian woman who tells her stories about what it was like growing up gay in the 1950s and '60s.

As Claire spends more time with Lena and grows more confident of her identity, another girl, Pen, comes into the picture, and Claire is caught between two loves-one familiar and well-worn, the other new and untested.

Author Notes

Robin Gow is a trans and queer poet, editor, and educator from rural Pennsylvania. Their books include Ode to My First Car , A Million Quiet Revolutions, and Blue Blood . They are the supportive services coordinator at Bradbury-Sullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and founder of Trans-cendent Connections, an organization that provides trans education resources to support trans youth. Gow also founded the New York City trans and queer reading series Gender Reveal Party. They live in Allentown, Pennsylvania, with their partner, best friend, and pugs, Gertrude and Eddie.

Reviews (1)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Bisexual 17-year-old Claire Kemp's summer plans--escaping her family's cramped apartment in Trappe, Pa., to hang out with her transgender best friend and secret crush Sophia--are dashed when she totals Lars, her beloved first car. To pay off fines from the crash, she starts working at a local nursing home, where she meets 85-year-old lesbian Lena. As Lena recounts stories from her own past that help Claire feel more confident in her queerness, Claire begins dating classmate Pen. She hopes that their budding romance will lead to her much-anticipated "sexual debut" and also help her get over her feelings for Sophia. But Sophia's own new relationship with a controlling boy means she has less time for Claire, causing their friendship to fray. Meanwhile, familial conflicts surrounding whether or not Claire and her brother Chris, who is gay, should come out to their parents put a damper on Claire's summer. Gow (Dear Mothman) thoughtfully unpacks a variety of issues, including economic anxiety, guilt, and identity exploration via empathetic verse poems narrated by Claire to Lars. Though its many through lines don't always cohere, this is a sweet, encouraging read with a big heart. Major characters read as white. Ages 14--up. Agent: Jordan Hamessley, New Leaf Literary. (June)