Fight + Flight [Hardcover]

*2023 Rainbow List Book*

Jules Machias, author of Indie Next List PickBoth Can Be True, delivers another inspiring story about how an unexpected friendship transforms the lives of two middle schoolers.

Avery Hart lives for the thrill and speed of her dirt bike and the poundingthumpof her drum kit. But after she’s diagnosed with hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a disease that affects her joints, Avery splits her time between endless physical therapy and worrying that her fun and independence are over for good.

Sarah Bell is familiar with worry, too. For months, she’s been having intense panic attacks. No matter how much she pours her anxiety into making art, she can’t seem to get a grip on it, and she’s starting to wonder if she’ll be this way forever.

Just as both girls are reaching peak fear about what their futures hold, their present takes a terrifying turn when their school is seemingly attacked by gunmen. Though they later learn it was an active shooter drill, the traumatic experience bonds the girls together in a friendship that will change the way they view their perceived weaknesses—and help them find strength, and more, in each other.

Honest and timely. Machias incorporates a variety of tough issues, including class disparities, political divides, racism, and ableism. The effect is occasionally overwhelming—much like real life—but ultimately hopeful. -Kirkus Reviews

Arresting. This affecting story empathetically explores challenges of living with chronic pain and anxiety, offering hope and moments of hard-won joy. -Publishers Weekly

In addition to navigating [characters'] mental health struggles and physical disabilit[ies], Machias thoughtfully portrays characters who are cis and trans, gay and straight, and from different religious and racial backgrounds. This is a recommendatlC-