Get our latest book recommendations, author news, and competitions right to your inbox.
Table of Contents
About The Book
From the award-winning author of Break and Teeth comes a raw and honest exploration of complicated identities in a novel about a girl living on the fringe of every fringe group in her small town.
Etta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown.
Everywhere she turns, someone feels she’s too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). Etta doesn’t fit anywhere—until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca might be Etta’s salvation…but can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself?
Etta is tired of dealing with all of the labels and categories that seem so important to everyone else in her small Nebraska hometown.
Everywhere she turns, someone feels she’s too fringe for the fringe. Not gay enough for the Dykes, her ex-clique, thanks to a recent relationship with a boy; not tiny and white enough for ballet, her first passion; not sick enough to look anorexic (partially thanks to recovery). Etta doesn’t fit anywhere—until she meets Bianca, the straight, white, Christian, and seriously sick girl in Etta’s therapy group. Both girls are auditioning for Brentwood, a prestigious New York theater academy that is so not Nebraska. Bianca might be Etta’s salvation…but can Etta be saved by a girl who needs saving herself?
About The Author
Photograph by Kim Moskowitz
Hannah Moskowitz is the award-winning author of the young adult novels Sick Kids In Love; Not Otherwise Specified; Break; Invincible Summer; Gone, Gone, Gone; and Teeth; as well as the middle grade novels Zombie Tag and Marco Impossible. She lives in New York City.
Product Details
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (March 3, 2015)
- Length: 304 pages
- ISBN13: 9781481405980
- Ages: 14 - 99
Browse Related Books
Raves and Reviews
"Not Otherwise Specified is fun, sweet, sharp, smart and wonderfully heartfelt. Hannah Moskowitz's energetic prose leaps off the page and brings Etta's world to life. Don't miss out on it."
– Courtney Summers, author of CRACKED UP TO BE and THIS IS NOT A TEST
"Determined and irrepressible, Etta is a memorable narrator with smart insights into the particular challenges of bisexual teens."
– Publishers Weekly
" Moskowitz gracefully writes such topics as bisexuality (and biphobia), bullying, eating disorders, and race without ever becoming rote, and Etta herself is nuanced, sometimes prickly, and very human as she breathes life into a character all too often overlooked. Sure to provide comfort for any questioning teen, and important perspective for readers in general."
– Booklist
Awards and Honors
- ALA Rainbow List Selection
Resources and Downloads
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Not Otherwise Specified eBook 9781481405980
- Author Photo (jpg): Hannah Moskowitz Photograph by Kim Moskowitz(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit
