We are thrilled to once again be a stop on The Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour. Our Interview features A.J. Sass, and their MG Honor Book Just Shy Of Ordinary, which was a wonderful assignment because it will be our third book from this author reviewed on the website. Which means we got to meander our way through talking about A LOT.
Don’t forget to check out all the other tour stops!
BookishlyJewish: In JUST SHY OF ORDINARY, Shai makes a big transition from homeschool to public school. I think a lot of readers who made similar transitions over the COVID pandemic will find this extremely relatable. Did you have some home school experience that you drew from?
A.J. Sass: Kind of yes, kind of no. I was never homeschooled in the traditional sense, but a month before the end of my fall semester of 9th grade, my parents relocated the family from Georgia to Minnesota. Because my new school was on a nine-month academic schedule rather than a semester system, and because I hadn’t yet taken my finals at my school in Georgia, I spent two months studying and playing catch-up at home on my own, then had a proctor give me my finals so I could get grades for my Georgia high school classes.
I’m not sure if that counts, to be honest, but this, plus the fact that I’ve known several fellow figure skaters who were homeschooled to better fit with their athletic training schedules, always made me interesting in exploring the homeschooling experience in literature (it gets mentioned in ANA ON THE EDGE as well, although only in passing since that story took place over the summer).
I did a lot of my research via online sources to develop a deeper understanding of various homeschool practices and routines. I was also very fortunate that one of my editors, Caitlyn Averett, was homeschooled all the way through high school. Since Shai is choosing to enter public school not due to their dissatisfaction with their previous academic setup but for other reasons, I wanted to ensure I portrayed homeschooling in a positive light. Caitlyn was an invaluable resource and we had some great discussions on the positive aspects of homeschooling throughout the editorial process.
BookishlyJewish: Speaking of COVID, a lot of adult novels are simply pretending it never happened, but in JUST SHY OF ORDINARY it actually appears to be one of the triggers of Shai’s anxiety, and leads to a lot of changes in their life. How did you decide to include the pandemic in your story?
A.J. Sass: It’s certainly tricky to decide whether or not to pull from real life events when writing fiction, especially for younger readers. Also, given the way publishing works, I wasn’t entirely sure a pandemic story would even be relevant by the time this manuscript released. But I’d spent most of 2020 writing ELLEN OUTSIDE THE LINES and the first half of 2021 writing CAMP QUILTBAG, both stories that involve characters who are exploring new environments (and in Ellen’s case, an entirely new country). It felt quite surreal to be writing stories like that while I was at home sheltering in place. And I’d heard from friends with kids about how difficult it was to go from in-person schooling to virtual and sometimes back again, with no guarantee things would stay safe enough to keep schooling in-person.
I thought about writing a book set in the midst of the pandemic, but by the time Shai’s story started to form in my head, the first vaccine had been released in 2021. There was this feeling of hope at the outset. My partner and I even took a road trip (we weren’t comfortable hopping on a plane yet). One of the things that stayed with me from that time was defining what “normal” meant to me, an author who debuted when no in-person events were taking place, who never got to meet a reader face to face until March 2022, a year and a half after I debuted. I also heard from friends and acquaintances about how difficult the past two years had been, especially for those whose jobs required an in-person presence.
It was around this time that Shai’s story became clearer. Before I knew anything else about the story, I knew I wanted to set it in the small-town Midwest of my childhood. I kept coming back to Minocqua, Wisconsin. Known as the island city, it was a place I loved visiting on trips to see my grandparents in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Definitely a tourist town. But what if tourism slowed when businesses shut down in the middle of the pandemic, I wondered. How would folks who lived in a place like that year-round survive if their main form of income dried up?
That’s when my focus started to shift to a post-pandemic world and how a character with severe anxiety would handle (or not, as it were) the changes taking place around them. It allowed me to reference changes I’d noticed during my own pandemic experiences, like the barriers that were still up in Thierry’s hair salon between the chairs and how some people were still wearing masks, from Shai’s perspective.
The world is full of uncertainties. I dealt with different ones when I was Shai’s age, but I wanted Shai’s story to resonate with readers now. The pandemic wasn’t a large part of this story by any means, but it felt important to give a nod to the readers who might have struggled during it, as well as those who are still grappling with how uncertain the future feels.
BookishlyJewish: There’s significant tension between Shai and their mother when they decide to explore Judaism. As an Orthodox Jew, I actually had no problem with Shai exploring any aspect of Judaism they wanted to, but Shai’s mother tells them that some practices are “closed” to those outside a Jewish community. I wondered if Shai’s mother was actually concerned Shai’s exploration might be seen as offensive to some, or if she was finding an excuse to slow Shai down a bit for her own reasons.
A.J. Sass: My intentions for Shai’s mom’s reactions were definitely more of the latter. This is a conversation I’ve had with an authenticity reader, some of the editors who worked with me on this manuscript, and also readers. Their interpretations of the mom’s responses were varied. Some felt that Shai’s mom was acting too worried about offending the Jewish community when Shai, as a halachic Jew, should have been welcome to explore Judaism’s culture and practices. Others saw it more as Shai’s mom having a trauma response that happened to initially occur within her former synagogue– a few members were unhappy with a choice she made and, as a result, she left the community.
I thought about changing some of these scenes to make it clearer that Shai’s mom didn’t think Shai learning about Judaism was a bad thing, but if I were an intuitive but anxious 13 year old like Shai, that’s immediately what I would’ve jumped to if I’d been having the same conversation. It felt authentic to my own experiences with anxiety to include this uncertainty as to their mother’s reaction to Shai’s questions, which later get clarified.
Life isn’t always straightforward. People don’t always make sense. And reactions they have to upsetting events in their past might be interpreted by others in a variety of ways until the person clarifies and ultimately sets the record straight. If the scenes where conversations between Shai and their mom occur spark discussion among readers, I’m glad for it.
BookishlyJewish: Coming out is an important part of the plot for several characters, and we observe Shai do it twice. What was your aim in those scenes?
A.J. Sass: When I was younger, I assumed coming out was a one-and-done type of process – I’d figure out who I am, then tell everyone, and that would be that. In reality, I spent years exploring my identity. It was a long process and I tried out several different labels (and names!) before finding ones that resonate most with me.
For Shai, the coming out process is also ongoing. They know they’re nonbinary but have only told their closest friends and family by the start of the story. Starting public school introduces Shai to new friends, and when one of them shares that she is a lesbian, it makes Shai feel comfortable enough to share that they are pansexual … but that doesn’t say anything about their gender, which is something Shai struggles more with figuring out how to share. Of course, Shai’s new friend has different challenges associated with her identity – she’s not sure her family or everyone at school will be supportive. Shai’s long-time best friend is also going through a coming out process of his own, which – you guessed it – is also unique to him.
My goal in depicting various characters coming out in different ways is to reflect the diversity of experiences within the queer community. Not everyone has the same coming out story and sometimes you have to come out many times, whether it’s to new people or to those you’ve already come out to when you realize something new about yourself. Ultimately, only you know who you are and it’s okay if that changes as you gain a better understanding of yourself over time. There is no one right way to be nonbinary, or pansexual, queer, or otherwise. That’s one of the wonderful aspects of our community.
BookishlyJewish: Poetry plays a significant role in JUST SHY OF ORDINARY, and Shai mentions reading some novels in verse. Any chance we might see a novel in verse from you someday?
A.J. Sass: I hope so! I’ve actually started writing a middle grade story in verse not too long ago, and it felt so freeing to write in this style (verse novels are also what helped get me out of my initial pandemic reading rut back in 2020). It hasn’t been acquired yet, but I do hope to be able to incorporate different writing styles into my stories in the future including verse.
For the time being, I’ll be content with the upcoming launch of my debut picture book, SHABBAT IS … (Little, Brown, 9/2/25), which is a much shorter-form style than I usually write. I also look forward to seeing a poem in a picture book anthology I contributed to called NO BRAIN THE SAME release from Charlesbridge in 2026. My poem focuses on Lydia X. Z. Brown’s autism advocacy.
BookishlyJewish: A lot of kids are facing significant anxiety and mental health issues, and like Shai they are afraid to ask for help. How did you choose this as focus for the book, and how has it been received by the public?
A.J. Sass: I grew up struggling with severe anxiety that only worsened as I got older. In elementary and middle school, it was mostly social anxiety; I found it difficult to make friends or understand social cues, which made sense after I received my Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis as an adult. When I entered high school, I was flagged as academically gifted and went on to skip into 10th grade near the end of my 9th grade year after my family relocated from Georgia to Minnesota. I finished 10th grade in a handful of months and then enrolled in college courses as an 11th grader, effectively completing my AA degree around the same time I graduated high school.
My family was proud of my academic achievements and I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed at any cost, which only compounded my anxiety. My own personal story always felt really complicated to share (it’s complicated to explain in this response now!), but I wanted to explore the experience of appearing outwardly successful while struggling to hold things together internally within a novel.
Shai’s story developed from this desire, and it seems to have been well received. A few folks have mentioned that there’s a lot going on in this story, and there is! Not only is Shai dealing with anxiety and coming out, they want to explore more about their Jewish heritage which they can tell is making their mom uncomfortable, plus navigating their first crush, public school, skipping a grade, and more. Real life doesn’t sit still for you to focus on one thing before moving on to the next, and that’s what I try to convey in my books.
BookishlyJewish: Shai’s friendship with Mille changes over time, but I found it meaningful that it was Shai’s oldest friend that finally ensures they get the help they need. Did you always know it would play out that way?
A.J. Sass: I always knew I wanted Mille to support Shai and have them realize that asking for help is nothing to be ashamed of, but I didn’t know how he would do that until fairly late in the editorial process.
That’s because my early drafts of this book were a complete mess.
Every book is different, but to date, Shai’s story has been my most time-consuming. For some perspective, I underwrote ANA ON THE EDGE and had to add almost 20,000 words by the final draft. I overwrote ELLEN OUTSIDE THE LINES and cut 15,000 words during developmental and line edits. CAMP QUILTBAG, on the other hand, was a joy to write and had minimal edits from start to finish.
Honestly, I thought I’d leveled up after CAMP QUILTBAG, that my next book would be fairly simple.
Ha.
JUST SHY OF ORDINARY was a complete rewrite between draft one and two. So, while the novel’s general vibes, so to speak, were there from the beginning, its execution changed drastically. That’s part of the magic of revising under the guidance of a fantastic editor. In earlier drafts, Mille chose to come out to Shai much sooner in the story, so the scene where they argue outside the fabric shop, which ultimately leads to the climax where Shai’s mom learns about Shai’s picking, didn’t initially exist.
When I received my first edit letter after submitting my initial draft, I sat with it for quite a while, mulling it over, trying to make the pieces fall into place more seamlessly than the disjointed way in which they were currently arranged. With my deadline fast approaching, I still didn’t have everything figured out, but I knew one thing: I needed to start from the ground up. So I opened a new Word doc and got to work, taking notes as I went along about realizations I was making during the re-drafting process. One of them was how Mille would help Shai, Now, I think that is among the strongest scenes in the story. The process wasn’t easy, but it felt worth it (but if my next book’s revisions could be less work, I wouldn’t complain!).
BookishlyJewish: One of the particular things I enjoy about several of your books is that you manage to write characters who have financial struggles, but that still have lives full of joy. Is this something you do consciously, or did it just happen organically?
A.J. Sass: It’s absolutely part of my brainstorming process, because a character’s home life or their family’s financial situation can determine how they react to situations and conversations in a story. This is quite apparent in ANA ON THE EDGE, where main character Ana lives in a small studio apartment in San Francisco with her mother and is acutely aware of the high cost to maintain her elite level of training as a figure skater. That was informed by my lived experiences as a figure skater moving up the ranks of the sport, as well as my knowledge of the sacrifices many families make to support their kids’ athletic dreams.
Since I wanted JUST SHY OF ORDINARY to take place in a somewhat post-pandemic world, and I am aware of how many people needed to pivot their careers to make ends meet when in-person work wasn’t possible, I decided to explore the loss of Shai’s mom’s job and the need to move in with family friends as the primary source of Shai’s anxiety. It’s not something Shai can do anything about, but it’s at the back of their mind a lot and determines some of the choices they make throughout the novel.
For example, after Shai’s mom lost her job at a local hotel, she started learning web design online to create a new source of income she could earn from home. Shai tries to emulate this in their decision to create a new normal by choosing to attend public school, among other things. They also know how hard their mom is working on her web design projects, with the hopes of one day receiving a full-time job offer, which is another reason Shai is initially hesitant to share with their mom that they’re struggling – Shai believes they don’t currently have enough time or money for a therapist so they decide to fix their problem on their own.
BookishlyJewish: Is there a particular message you wanted readers to take away from this book?
A.J. Sass: One message that I hope is conveyed strongly in Shai’s story is that no matter how bad a situation you feel like you’re in, it is only temporary. There’s a phrase in Hebrew, גם זה יעבור, which roughly translates as “this too shall pass.” It can have both positive and negative connotations, depending on how you interpret it, but I tend to focus on the positive. I say it whenever I’m struggling with something in my life.
The bad moments are temporary. Acknowledging them, then working to make things better, is how we can arrive at good moments – and often this is accomplished by asking for help or leaning on your friends, family, or other members within your community.
BookishlyJewish: I always end by asking if you have a Jewish book to recommend to our readers?
A.J. Sass: I have admittedly been in a bit of a reading slump lately, so I hope it’s okay to answer this by sharing some Jewish books I’m excited to get to read in the future:
Picture Book: Tov is Good by Richard Ho (Chronicle, fall 2026)
Middle Grade: Across So Many Seas by Ruth Behar and The Color of Sound by Emily Barth Isler
YA: Katherine Locke’s next YA book (I don’t know if it has a title yet, but if it’s as good as This Rebel Heart, I know I’m going to devour it)
A. J. Sass (he/they) is the award winning and critically acclaimed author of books for young readers, including Just Shy of Ordinary, Camp QUILTBAG, co-written with Nicole Melleby, Ellen Outside the Lines, and Ana on the Edge. Many of Andrew’s books have also been Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections.
Andrew’s debut picture book, Shabbat Is …, illustrated by Noa Kelner, releases on 9/2/25 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. He is also a contributor to the upcoming anthologies Athlete is Agender (5/13/25) and No Brain the Same (summer 2026). His short stories and essays have appeared in the This Is Our Rainbow, Allies, and On All Other Nights anthologies.
When he’s not writing, Andrew figure skates, tinkers with typewriters, and travels as much as possible. He divides his time between the San Francisco Bay Area and northwestern Vermont with his husband. Visit him online at sassinsf.com and follow him @matokah on Bluesky and Instagram.