The Race to Be Myself Young Readers Edition

April 15, 2024
The life story of a two-time Olympic gold medalist runner from South Africa who's faced scrutiny and prejudice. Semenya pulls no punches in the prologue to the young readers' adaptation of her memoir. "I have what is called a difference of sex development," she explains. "To put it simply, on the outside I am female and I have a vagina, but I do not have a uterus." These details become relevant as Semenya describes, in painful detail, her experience with medicalized discrimination as she underwent invasive exams, hormone replacement therapy (with terrible side effects), and legal battles to be allowed to race in the 2012 Olympics. The beginning of the narrative struggles with cohesion, but Semenya tells her story in an intimate, loose, conversational tone that will make readers feel close to her. Her story is frustrating and tragic, providing an early example of attitudes displayed in the anti-trans movement currently spanning the globe. Semenya, who writes that her Pedi community always "accepted me as I was and never made me feel like an outsider," asserts her own understanding of herself and her gender in ways that sometimes don't align with Western medical or activist frameworks and language. While she was assigned female at birth and asserts that she's a "proud Black woman...a daughter, a sister, a wife, and...a mother," this story will resonate with anyone who's felt like their gender and their body are right for them but wrong for the world. Informative and inspiring. (Memoir. 11-16)

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Starred review from November 22, 2024

Gr 6 Up-On the eve of her first world championship in 2009, middle-distance runner Caster Semenya was forced to take a gender test. The test confirmed that she has a genetic condition referred to as a difference in sex development. The leaked test results launched a storm of speculation that overshadowed her storied career, including three world championships and Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016. Though others have labeled her as intersex, Semenya describes herself as a proud Black South African woman, daughter, sister, wife, and mother to two young girls. With engaging prose and color photos, she tells her story starting with childhood in a rural village in Northern South Africa. Semenya was a strong-willed "tomboy," but always felt accepted by her loving family. Semenya's parents and older family members lived much of their lives under apartheid, and their experiences inspire her to speak out and fight against injustice. As she contemplates the end of her career, Semenya hopes her story will help others accept themselves amid a more tolerant world. Suggest to readers who've enjoyed Tommie Smith's Victory. Stand! Raising My Fist for Justice and Megan Rapinoe's One Life: Young Readers Edition. VERDICT Well-crafted and inspiring, this is an excellent choice for readers interested in sports and issues of gender and social justice.-Marilyn Taniguchi

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