The First Thing About You

Fifteen-year-old Harris, who has spinal muscular atrophy, seeks to reinvent himself while navigating first love in Hayden’s sincere debut. After spending most of his childhood in and out of hospitals, Harris, who uses a wheelchair, is sure his family’s move from California to New Jersey is the perfect opportunity to “start living a real teenage life.” When he meets friendly Zander on the first day of school, Harris asks his go-to ice breaker—“What’s your favorite color?”—and learns that it’s yellow, which he feels signals an auspicious start to their budding friendship. Asking this question helps him avoid people he believes he’s incompatible with—his favorite color is blue, so he doesn’t gel well with greens and purples, since they’re too similar—but he’s stumped about what to do when he meets beautiful, enigmatic classmate Nory, who won’t tell him her favorite hue. When his impetuous new aide Miranda, a nursing student, plays matchmaker, her sometimes emotionally risky suggestions, and Harris’s growing feelings for both her and Nory, complicate matters. Via Harris’s wry first-person narration, Hayden, who also has SMA, explores themes of friendship and finding oneself with good humor and authority. Most characters cue as white. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)