iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 10/04/2026

"In Boise, the small but courageous flagpole gesture was felt earnestly. One Idahoan who stopped to admire the new display expressed just how important it was to see the city fighting back. "'I feel loved,' he told local news. 'I feel accepted by the people that matter. I feel hope.'”

112444

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 07/04/2026

The violation of privacy this testing implementation imposes is insurmountable. It basically lets the entire world know when a woman athlete has an intersex condition, even if she was unaware prior to testing. The last time this rule was in effect, it literally led to a suicide.

040

Reposted by A. J. Sass

victoria zeller🫛 (RISEBALL, summer ‘27) @dirtbagqueer.rocks · 26/03/2026

anti-trans virtue signaling that is not going to last, because a LOT of cis athletes are about to find out they are intersex

51221233

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Kyle Lukoff @kylelukoff.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

Getting a book banned isn't an honor and also it's bad for sales.

05210

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Catherine Hapka @catherinehapka.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Happy Trans Day of Visibility to my trans&NB friends!🏳️‍⚧️ To celebrate why not buy a #kidlit or #YA book feat. trans/NB characters & authors? Here are some faves (deets in alt txt); more suggestions welcome! @sassinsf.com @aprildaniels.bsky.social @justinepwinans.bsky.social @kylelukoff.bsky.social

Book cover: ANA ON THE EDGE by A.J. Sass. Tagline: Step into yourself. Art shows a young person on ice skates, seen from behind, arms outstretched and with a spot light on the ice a short distance in front of them. My review: Read this one! It's such a sweet, age-appropriate story with memorable characters and just enough fascinating behind-the-scenes skating detail (the author is a skater himself and knows his stuff!).

Book cover: DREADNOUGHT by April Daniels. Additional text reads: Nemesis - Book One. "Daniels spins a classic coming-of-age superhero tale, but one that also tackles transmisogyny and sexism, as its young hero navigates what she owes the world and what she owes herself." - Entertainment Weekly. Art shows the silhouette of a superhero type figure with a cape blowing in the wind, standing on a hill overlooking a city skyline. My review: This one had me hooked from the first scene even though I'm usually lukewarm at best on superheroes. Really unique, exciting, action packed, and well done!

Book cover: WHEN AIDAN BECAME A BROTHER by Kyle Lukoff, illustrated by Kaylani Juanita. Art shows a family of three with a woman kissing the forehead of a small kid who is sitting on a smiling man's shoulders. The kid wears a rainbow striped shirt. There's a Stonewall Book Award sticker to the side. My review: I don't read many picture books (just not my thing) but this one is SO SWEET! The author also writes middle grade and I almost put one of those here (TOO BRIGHT TO SEE) but figured I'd mix it up with the picture book instead. But they're both good! Been meaning to pick up his latest MG title as well.

1124

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 04/04/2026

This would've made past-me, who was a Georgian during middle school, so happy. It makes present-me, who is exhausted from all the hateful bills getting passed elsewhere and desperately in need of a win, so happy too 👏

060

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 06/03/2026

PSA to NYC-based editors!

000

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Brittany Pearson @britspixels.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

She is PURE JOY! Yay Alysa ! 🏅🎉 #alysaliu #kidlitart #illustration

2294

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Erin Reed @erininthemorning.com · 16/02/2026

Huge announcement: Girl Scouts on our trans girl scout cookies list have sold 250,000!!!!!! Boxes of girl scout cookies, a record for EITM's trans girl scout cookie drive. Some have only sold 20 boxes though. I put those at the top of the list. Lets close out this season and make their day! :)

erininthemorning.com

2026 Trans Girl Scouts To Order Cookies From!

This year, consider ordering your Girl Scout cookies from a trans girl scout to make their day!

301596622

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost @frost.house.gov · 27/01/2026

Today we remember the six million Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day and every day, we recommit to standing up against antisemitism and ensure that the horrors of the Holocaust are never forgotten.

39322

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 15/01/2026

Grateful that the Champlain Valley School District (VT) is pushing back against this attempt to ban trans girls from girls sports, as well as several districts in California. www.sevendaysvt.com/news/trans-a...

sevendaysvt.com

Trans Athlete Policy Prompts Federal Probe of Champlain Valley Schools | Seven Days

The district was one of 18 educational entities that are under investigation for allowing students to play on the sports team that aligns with their gender identity.

020

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 07/01/2026

So proud of my state's efforts to protect trans youth!

021

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 01/01/2026

I'm gonna read a boatload of queer books. And write some too. I'm looking forward to both. Happy New Year.

1100

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Nicholas Kole @nicholaskole.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

2025 was *brutal*, in all those personal hard to explain ways I don’t really share online. It was also marbled with love and little moments of sweetness that made it survivable. I don’t know if I have the right to expect better in 2026, but I’m gonna look hard for the love

637418

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

The ACA isn't just "health care for people who don't have a conventional employer." It also disallows something that was incredibly common 20 years ago, which I fear is getting lost to generational memory: insurance companies could deny you health care for essentially any previous health problem.

7476442559

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Andrew M. | Founder & Advisor 🇬🇷 🇺🇸 @andrewmfounder.bsky.social · 14/12/2025

I went to bed last night thinking about the shooting at Brown University and woke up to the news about the shooting at Bondi Beach in Australia. This is a sick planet. George Carlin said it best: "Save the planet, we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet."

052

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Jordan Hamessley @thejordache.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Please consider signing this petition to stop this debate and read the comments from alumni and students at the school expressing their thoughts on why this event should not be happening at their public high school. www.change.org/p/stop-the-w...

change.org

Sign the Petition

Stop the WHS TPUSA club from pushing bigotry into our school.

132

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Jordan Hamessley @thejordache.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

A local Irvine high school's Turning Point USA club has organized a debate on “transgenderism and same sex marriage”. Not only are people’s lives and identities not up for debate, but this is also dangerous, thinly veiled bigotry. I have friends with queer kids at this school and I'm livid.

change.org

Sign the Petition

Stop the WHS TPUSA club from pushing bigotry into our school.

22010

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 21/11/2025

I've got a poem in NO BRAIN THE SAME. I'm so excited for everyone to see this special book next year!

041

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 19/11/2025

Shabbat Is and Just Shy of Ordinary made this list!

194

Reposted by A. J. Sass

A.J. Irving 🩷💜💙 @ajirving.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Happy news! THE BI BOOK by Cynthia Alonso and me made ALA Booklist’s 2025 Editors’ Choice Books for Youth list! We are honored! Congratulations to all the creators of these fantastic books! ✨ tinyurl.com/5xkyavh6 #kidlit #booksky

4237

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 15/11/2025

Oh hey, another reason to hate this timeline - attempts to deport people INDIGENOUS to North America. Make it make sense

040

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 14/11/2025

🤡 🤡 🤡 I am literally supposed to travel out of the country next week. Someone go to DC and smack these policymakers upside their heads for me pls

311

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 06/11/2025

Ughhh. So, what, this means the passport I paid for is unusable AGAIN?

120

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 31/10/2025

I thought when I wrote Ana on the Edge, we wouldn’t still be talking about trans folks’ place in sports half a decade later. Yet here we are. This is such a disappointing decision, to restrict those competing in women’s skating events by the sex on their original birth certificate.

231

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 29/10/2025

I actually love hearing other languages. There are so many of them and they’re beautiful. Getting mad about it is a skill issue. And to be clear, that skill is empathy.

461311194

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Jordan Hamessley @thejordache.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Again, there is nothing controversial in @sassinsf.com's MG books! Just positive representation of queer kids! QUEER KIDS ARE NOT CONTROVERSIAL OR POLITICAL. This list includes so many award winning books, as well as things like Elmo teaching kids about Covid. ABSURD. Ashamed of my home state.

0102

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 24/10/2025

Cool cool cool, I guess it had to happen sometime. My book Just Shy of Ordinary has been slated for removal (aka is being banned) from a Texas library, along with other titles centering diverse characters. Not surprising, just disappointing.

341

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 21/10/2025

Congrats, Lanaisha! 🥳

110

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 21/10/2025

On a happier note, Ana on the Edge made me a published author 5 years ago today. No matter how many places it gets challenged or banned, it’s still finding the readers who need it, and I have so many teachers, educators, parents, etc to thank for that 🩵

Author A. J. Sass holding his debut middle grade novel Ana on the Edge. A bookshelf is to the right behind him and the walls are painted a dark green.

1242

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Jordan Hamessley @thejordache.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

👇Quote from ANA ON THE EDGE by @sassinsf.com. This book should not be banned. sassinsf.com/books/ana-on...

sassinsf.com

Ana on the Edge – A.J. Sass

081

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Jordan Hamessley @thejordache.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

I must point out that @sassinsf.com's author's note at the end of ANA ON THE EDGE is worth the read and masterfully discusses the nuances of gender identity. I've given that book to multiple adults who have questions about trans kids' experiences specifically so they can read that author's note.

192

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Jordan Hamessley @thejordache.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

There is nothing remotely "controversial" in @sassinsf.com's ANA ON THE EDGE. Just a 12yo navigating the world of competitive ice skating and exploring gender. It's a beautiful read. I'm proud to have worked with A.J. on it. Horrific that a teacher would be put on leave simply for shelving the book.

0112

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Sarah S. Brannen @sarahsbrannen.bsky.social · 20/10/2025

I've read two of the books in this case, @sassinsf.com's ANA ON THE EDGE and @kylelukoff.bsky.social's TOO BRIGHT TO SEE, and they are so, so good. Some kids will really relate to them, and other kids will learn what it's like to be a person like the character in the book. All good. Right?

272

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 20/10/2025

Ana on the Edge is about a 12 year old ice skater navigating being nonbinary in a gendered sport. The fact that it's considered controversial enough to reprimand and put a teacher on leave over simply having it in her classroom library is incomprehensible to me.

032

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 07/10/2025

Come join @toddparr.bsky.social and me tomorrow to acknowledge the impact banned books have on our community while celebrating love, identity, and the profound importance of inclusive stories.

152

Reposted by A. J. Sass

LBYR School & Library @lbschool.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

October 5-11 is Banned Books Week, an opportunity to resist censorship and celebrate the freedom to read. Tune in to panels with LBYR authors @katherinelocke.bsky.social, @toddparr.bsky.social, and @sassinsf.com for @everylibrary.bsky.social's virtual Banned Books Week Festival. 🧵

122

Reposted by A. J. Sass

A.J. Irving 🩷💜💙 @ajirving.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Smiling big because I’m finally holding my friend @sassinsf.com’s BEAUTIFUL picture book SHABBAT IS! So proud to add this to our home library alongside his incredible middle grade books. Welcome to the PB club, Andrew, and congratulations!!! ❤️ #kidlit #booksky

2348

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 24/09/2025

Look, I'll take my joy where I can find it these days Trans health care "skeptics" lost a key ally—now they're having a meltdown www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

motherjones.com

Trans health care "skeptics" lost a key ally—now they're having a meltdown

The godfather of evidence-based medicine on rejecting anti-trans "misuse" of his work.

020

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 11/09/2025

Sonya's illustrations are STUNNING. Go make friends with her so you can say "I knew her when" 😁

130

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 02/09/2025

My debut picture book, SHABBAT IS ..., releases today 😊 Available where all books are sold. And here: www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/a-j-s...

62714

A. J. Sass @sassinsf.com · 26/08/2025

What in the utterly petty hell is this nonsense, Florida 😒

013

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Karen B. McCoy @karenbmccoy.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Found this gem on the shelf at Face in a Book in El Dorado Hills. One of my favorite MG writers and this book is so much fun! @sassinsf.com #middlegradereads #shelfie #shelfiemonday

121

Reposted by A. J. Sass

Wendy Gassaway @wendygassaway.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

@sassinsf.com Congrats! Your book Ellen Outside the Lines has been selected as a 2025-26 Oregon Battle of the Books selection. OBOB has over 30K participants annually, with 750 schools fielding 8,000 teams of students. We're excited to share your book with Oregon readers!

141