One of my main focuses for this year in reading is to find more books with a diverse cast of characters so that I can support their publication and expand my reading horizons after graduation. As I was scanning the shelves of my bookstore, this one jumped out at me for a few reasons. First, there were two boys on the cover, so I was already in. I may not be well-versed in soccer terminology, but this is not a requirement for enjoying this novel.
Summary
Spencer Harris is hoping to make it through this school year mostly unnoticed. Sure, he is a proud nerd and a star soccer player, but being transgender in Ohio has already resulted in him transferring schools. Through a first day misunderstanding, and maybe a little push from the coach, Spencer tries out for the boys soccer team, hoping to prove to himself and his family that he is just as capable on the field as he is off. The only problem in his plan is that no one at Oakley knows he’s trans because he’s passing. So when the league checks his birth certificate and finds the ‘F,’ Spencer is benched while he tries to figure out if he should cheer from the sidelines or come out and publicly fight for his right to play.
Review
The pacing of the plot in this book was really on point for me. I read the majority of this book during an afternoon at the park. There was rarely a moment when I wanted to put the book down or questioned why a scene was happening. In the one or two moments when I did think that, a few lines later I found the reason why it was included. One specific example of this that comes to mind is the team’s Halloween celebration, when they are trying to figure out what to do as a team. While I won’t spoil it for you, the scene dragged for me, mostly because I had a gut feeling about what would happen next and was interested to see how it played out with the characters. Additionally, in my opinion, there was a missed opportunity to focus on the idea of passing in the sense of trans identity rather than soccer. Fitzsimons sets it up for us in the first chapter of The Passing Playbook, saying “First rule of passing: Don’t be different” (pg 9). I was looking forward to getting a few more moments throughout the text that were structured in the same way, perhaps three rules that Spencer follows to continue passing at his new school. While this isn’t a deal breaker by any means, I definitely felt as though it left me hanging just a little.
Your difference may feel like a burden now, but it’s actually a gift. Remember that.
page 182
One of the central themes of The Passing Playbook is trans identity and rights and it takes a different angle on them from what I’ve read in the past. At his new school, Spencer is able to pass as male to classmates and teachers. The only person who know he is trans at the start of the school year is the principal who helped him ensure that all of his school documentation had his preferred name and pronouns. This allows him to attend school without fear of bullying or harassment’s, but it also introduces a number of conflicts throughout the book. Another specific example, outside of the primary conflict of the novel, is when a nonbinary student named Rylee is accused of being the only trans student at the school during a QSA meeting. Spencer must decide whether or not to out himself to the group to defend Rylee and demonstrate the need for gender-neutral bathrooms extends beyond the one person they knew of.
He had treated each step as another obstacle to overcome. This was the first time he thought about it as something to be celebrated.
page 276
When I first read the summary of this book, the phrase “discriminatory law” stood out to me. I read that as a new law being introduced to the state that was specifically worded to relate to trans individuals either in schools or in sports, similar to many of the laws that have been entering state legislatures recently. So I was surprised when the book didn’t address the law very much. In fact, the law is not even a new law, but instead one that has existed for years and likely had not been addressed in relation to high school sports until recently, if ever. I actually really enjoy this take on the idea of a discriminatory law because it reminds us as readers that while a law may be written for one thing, it can have impacts that reach wider than we expect. In The Passing Playbook, Ohio does not allow individuals to change their gender marker on their birth certificate, and the high school league only accepts birth certificates as proof of age and eligibility to play. Every other form of identification listed Spencer as male, but one piece of paper could be the reason he doesn’t get to play on his high school team.
Final Thoughts
What a great book! I’m not a big sports person, so many of the sports references were lost on me, some more so than others, but it didn’t prevent me from following along with the story and enjoying my time reading The Passing Playbook. There were a few brief moments that lost me, and this book, while mostly lighthearted, does touch on some heavy topics such as religious intolerance of the queer community and bullying of trans youth. There are no in-depth descriptions of these moments, but they are something that exist to frame the novel and conflict throughout.
This book would be great for a middle or high school aged reader, especially one who is reluctant to read or is really interested in sports. There are a lot of great references to soccer throughout the book and it is the perfect length for all readers.
I read the hardcover first edition of The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons, published in 2021.
If you’d like to pick up a copy for yourself or a friend, check out the following links:
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