Skin

Sixteen-year-old Sep is alarmed when her lips suddenly turn white, forcing her to pull out some long-buried pink lipstick to disguise them. Just as unexpectedly, Sep starts getting the attention of popular football captain Joshua, a former childhood friend, and learns that she has vitiligo, a disorder that will turn patches of her olive skin white. As Sep’s vitiligo and her relationship with Joshua quickly progress, she decides to keep her condition hidden through brightly colored lipstick, hand-drawn tattoos, and creative fashion statements. Readers will empathize with Sep’s growing panic and inner turmoil as Napoli (Lights on the Nile) deftly maneuvers them through this rare disease’s effect on a teenage psyche. However, Sep’s rapid intimacy with Joshua, including a graphically erotic sex scene, feels at odds with her lack of trust in how he will react to her vitiligo. Although there are dark moments as Sep faces who she is and what she looks like, her rebound at the end, after a hastily cobbled-together “coming out,” is abrupt. Ages 14–up. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Aug.)