When first published in 2016, this book won nineteen literary awards both as a trade novel and a Young Adult novel. It is a loosely autobiographical novel by a life-long Chattanooga resident who transitioned into her true female self in 2013 when she was in her mid-twenties. The protagonist is Amanda Hardy a new girl in her Chattanooga school who was Andrew in her old school. "A beautifully rendered YA novel . . . the first written by a transgender woman about the transgender teen experience." ―San Francisco Chronicle. "This is everything a coming-of-age novel should be―honest, complicated, and meaningful. Transcends the typical 'issue' novel to be a beautiful tale in its own right." ―School Library Journal. “Beautiful, smart, and so urgently needed, If I Was Your Girl should be required reading for every teen―scratch that, every person―in America. This book is exactly what YA is for: to break ground, to break hearts, to teach us empathy, to find the universal in the specific. I loved every word. You will too.” ―Julie Buxbaum.
New York: Flatiron Books/Macmillan, a 2018 first paperback edition of a 2016 release. 313 pages with an Author Playlist, Author Q & A, Author Note, Discussion Questions, and a Deleted Scene. Trade paperback.