On Top of Glass: My Stories as a Queer Girl in Figure Skating

An insightful memoir from a figure skating champion about her life as a bisexual professional athlete, perfect for readers of Fierce by Aly Raisman and Forward by Abby Wambach.

Karina Manta has had a busy few years: Not only did she capture the hearts of many with her fan-favorite performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, she also became the first female figure skater on Team USA to come out as queer. Her Modern Love essay I Can't Hate My Body if I Love Hers was published in the New York Times, and then she joined the circus--Cirque du Soleil's on-ice show, AXEL.

Karina's memoir covers these experiences and much more. Attending a high school with 4,000 students, you'd expect to know more than two openly gay students, but Karina didn't meet an out-lesbian until she was nearly seventeen--let alone any other kind of queer woman. But this isn't just a story about her queerness. It's also a story about her struggle with body image in a sport that prizes delicate femininity. It's a story about panic attacks, and first crushes, and all the crushes that followed, and it's a story about growing up, feeling different than everybody around her and then realizing that everyone else felt different too.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
Published: 10/19/2021
ISBN: 9780593308462
Pages: 336
Weight: 1.03lbs
Size: 8.25h x 5.50w x 0.84d

Review Citations: School Library Journal 09/01/2021 pg. 116
Kirkus Reviews 09/01/2021