Rivals, Resistance, and Recovery: It’s All or Nothing, Vale by Andrea Beatriz Arango

Content Warning: internalized ableism (though it was, in my opinion, handled very well)

It’s All or Nothing, Vale is a middle grade novel-in-verse about seventh grader Vale, who used to be a champion fencer. And she will be again. She will. She doesn’t need a cane. She’s definitely not disabled. In fact, she’s returning to her fencing school just this week, and she’ll make up the losses from months of no fencing, physical therapy, surgery, and recovery.

This is a story of recovery and accepting one’s new normal.

Vale’s recovery as a fencer is paralleled by a developing friendship/rivalry/perhaps something more. New girl Myrka is friendly, outgoing, and the star pupil. Vale likes her/feels compelled to defeat her/perhaps something more. Throughout the book, the harder Vale works to outdo Myrka, the more she and her relationships suffer.

This is a very character-driven book and the characters are, for the most part, loveable but flawed. Vale is proud, stubborn, gifted, hard-working. Her parents are loving and well-intentioned, but neither takes the time to understand how Vale feels. A couple of characters are a bit flat—Vale’s brother Manu is big brother extraordinaire, and a mean girl at fencing class is only slightly softened by the fact that Vale clearly hurt her in the past. But overall, it has a strong central character and supporting cast.

I want to be careful in discussing the disability representation in the book. I’m not physically disabled. However, as a disabled person, I felt seen in Vale’s internal struggle with that label. Even with her frequent physical pain, she doesn’t want to be disabled, she doesn’t want to be someone who can’t. And that’s understandable. Disability is heavily stigmatized, Vale’s resistance was much like what I went through, too.

Overall, this is a quick read, a starting lunge with an emotional stab. Andrea Beatriz Arango balances themes, characters, languages, all gracefully to create an impactful story about a girl navigating a massive change.

Spoiler: And yes, in case you’re worried, it has a happy ending.