Spring 2025

Sometimes the Girl

  • Interest Level: Grade 9 - Grade 12
  • Reading Level: Grade 9

Eighteen-year-old Holiday needs to sort her life out.

She’s still shaken from her brother’s recent suicide attempt; still pining over her ex, Maya; and still struggling to write again after a long dry spell. To earn enough money for a rebalancing trip with Maya, Holi gets a short-term job: organizing the attic of acclaimed author Elsie McAllister. It’s an unglamorous gig with a difficult boss. Elsie—whose fame rests on a single novel published decades ago—is in her nineties, in failing health, and fiercely protective of her privacy. But as Holi sorts through the attic’s surprising contents, she realizes there’s much more to Elsie than the novel that made her a legend.

Unearthing Elsie’s secrets will change how Holi sees art, life, and the way they intertwine, as she grapples with choices that will redefine her own path.


Format Your Price Add
978-1-7284-9329-9
On pre-order until 05/06/2025
$14.99
979-8-7656-5084-4
On pre-order until 05/06/2025
$24.99
Available at all major wholesalers and distributors. Save 25% off list price on hardcovers and ebooks when you buy direct! Digital purchases will be accessed on Lerner Digital Bookshelf. An account will be created for you after purchase.
Interest Level Grade 9 - Grade 12
Reading Level Grade 9
Genre Young Adult
Category Diverse Books: LGBTQIA+, Diversity, SEL: D Relationship Skills, SEL: E Responsible Decision-Making, Social Emotional Learning
Copyright 2025
Publisher Lerner Publishing Group
Imprint Carolrhoda Lab ®
Language English
Number of Pages 304
Publication Date 2025-05-06
Text Type Fiction
BISACS YAF036000, YAF058050, YAF031000
Dewey [Fic]
Dimensions 5.5 x 8.25
Features Author/Illustrator note, Reviewed, Starred Reviews, Teaching Guides, and eSource

Author: Jennifer Mason-Black

Jennifer Mason-Black is the author of Devil and the Bluebird (Abrams 2016), which received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Shelf Awareness, and was included in the Locus Recommended Reading List 2016. Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Fireside Fiction, Daily Science Fiction, and The Sun, among others. She is a member of SFWA and the Author’s Guild, and lives deep in the woods of Massachusetts.

Lerner eSource™ offers free digital teaching and learning resources, including Common Core State Standards (CCSS) teaching guides. These guides, created by classroom teachers, offer short lessons and writing exercises that give students specific instruction and practice using Common Core skills and strategies. Lerner eSource also provides additional resources including online activities, downloadable/printable graphic organizers, and additional educational materials that would also support Common Core instruction. Download, share, pin, print, and save as many of these free resources as you like!

Sometimes the Girl

Eighteen-year-old Holiday needs to sort her life out. She’s still shaken from her brother’s recent suicide attempt; still pining over her ex, Maya; and still struggling to write again after a long dry spell. To earn enough money for a rebalancing trip View available downloads →

Reviews

Foreword Reviews

“A touching coming-of-age novel about healing and connection. Holi’s story models radical empathy, and its conclusion acknowledges that language is the only tool that may bridge the gap between people who seek to understand each other.”—starred, Foreword Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

“Mason-Black’s prose sparkles with poetic beauty as Holi engages in introspective musings about collective mourning and how individual healing is possible only in community. . . This striking work shows the power of intergenerational relationships to fortify queer artists against erasure . . . Beautifully written and powerfully uplifting.”—starred, Kirkus Reviews