A. J. Sass

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

@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!

Oh, this is lovely to learn! Thanks so much for tagging me. I hope Oregon readers enjoy Ellen's trip to Barcelona 😊

It did 🩵 But it wasn’t as simple as just walking in and getting it either (because of course it wasn’t). Emotionally, I’m tapped out. Glad it’s over but bracing for more once it gets appealed to a higher court.

Here’s hoping!

There's an attestation form you can fill out. I actually just got notified via email that my application went from in progress to on hold pending submission of further documents and I'm just hoping that means the attestation form and not something else. Guess I'll find out tomorrow

None of this is legal advice, I'm just speculating

BUT if you've never had a passport, it might be safer not to apply now, especially if you can get an enhanced drivers license. OR if all of your docs have been changed, you could, in theory, apply for your first passport without needing to fill out the attestation form and they'd be none the wiser.

fwiw, them adding names of trans folks who request an updated passport is garbage, but:
1) If you've already applied and changed your gender on your passport in the past, they already have that information, and
2) In my specific case, I'm named as a declarant in the latest motion so I'm SOL anyway 🤷

Guess who's going back to the passport office tomorrow yet again. Someone light a candle for me or something, I am literally leaving on a trip on Friday and I want this nonsense done with 🕯️

Yeah. And I hate that there’s not much that can be done beyond what folks have already been doing.

Good luck! I seriously can't wait to own a copy of your book one day. Your illustrations are so gorgeous 😍

Thanks, friend. Hopefully the hearing on July 10 will go in our favor ... and the government will actually listen to it this time around and let me update my friggin passport (which is currently still being held at the local passport agency but I guess it's useless as-is anyway so whatever)

At least speaking with the ACLU and filing a declaration in support of the plaintiffs' motion to enforce the preliminary injunction made me feel like I was doing *something* instead of just sitting on my hands bitching on the internet.

But this is the second trip I've missed so yeah, I'm mad

Oh hey look, I'm in this one 🙃 (subtly - I'm the declarant from Vermont)

If you don't think it's a big deal that the government is refusing to issue me a passport that matches all my other legal identity docs, a reminder that some of us travel internationally for work or other reasons and now can't

Ugh. I had a feeling.

Regardless, thank you, Erin, for connecting me with the ACLU so I could file a declaration in support of plaintiffs' motion to enforce the preliminary injunction.

Eloquently stated. I just hope I'm alive to see it happen.

It’s every parent’s nightmare, isn’t it? you check your child’s bulletproof backpack and find a picture book about gay penguins

I’ll keep you posted 🤞

I’m sorry your son is dealing with this. FWIW, I submitted a declaration in support of a motion to compel the gov to comply with the court order. Will let you know if that goes anywhere. My incorrect passport is currently at the local office on indefinite hold due to noncompliance to correct it.

Yeah. I’m submitting a declaration to the court attesting to my situation and hoping it’ll grant a motion to compel but who’s to say even that will make the government comply if they aren’t already? I’m tired and just want my passport fixed so I can stop missing planned trips.

As far as I've seen, no one who's tried to correct their passport has been able to do so, despite the order being explicitly clear that it is effective immediately

Hopefully we'll have updated guidance soon, but the the government not complying with a court order that supersedes an EO is still WILD

Same here. You're not alone. I'm hopeful something changes soon.

SHABBAT IS... by @sassinsf.com is "a picture book that’s as warm as fresh-baked challah" and "a lovely affirmation of both individual practice and communal connection", according to @publisherswkly.bsky.social 🥰

Forthcoming September 2, 2025!

awfulagent.com/ebooks/shabb...

Yay! Thanks for tagging me - I hadn't seen this one yet :)

featuring ELLEN OUTSIDE THE LINES by @sassinsf.com ✨

🤗

Summer Reading for Rising Sixth Graders — Lisa Yelon School is wrapping up, and summer reading is beginning!

New blog post: Great picks for kids for vacation, including books by @rrremylai.bsky.social, @as-king.bsky.social, @sassinsf.com, @dhonielle.bsky.social, @rebstead.bsky.social, @wenmass.bsky.social, Siobhan McDermott, Katherine Rundell, and Allie Millington.
www.lisayelon.com/blog/summer-...

Thank you for recommending Ellen! 🩵