Al Cetta

Warm and realistic portrayal of Grady, a transgendered teen who starts out as Angela. Characters are finely drawn, and except for one entirely evil girl, pretty realistic and very sympathetic. An interesting window into what it might be like to have gender dysphoria as an adolescent, when there's so much else to be dealing with too. The dad in this book is adorable, too.

Though this book gets points for being a trailblazer, I will say it is pretty flawed.
But it's easy for me to pick apart a text that tried to tackle controversial issues a decade-ish after it was written. We as a society have had more thoughts and discussions and made new revelations on the issue of trans visibility and representation since then.
This book seems to want to normalize a trans teen experience, but often comes across as a sitcom version of reality.

As with some other YA and MG show more books I've read with trans characters, the emphasis is often on 'passing' which to me seems to only add to the social obsession with trans bodies and policing of looks and our needlessly strict gender norms.
Everything feels a little too convenient for our hero. A haircut and a chest binder and girls at school think he is attractive. He is very fortunate throughout the book, though I read somewhere that the author made a conscious choice to have a happy ending and positive feel to the story.

The writing isn't really to my taste, but I imagine that some young people might appreciate the simple candid style when paired with a topic that might feel confusing to them. I could imagine this book helping some close minded people learn basic empathy for trans teens but it should not be the only text used in said hypothetical mind-opening literature experience.

Let us hope this book inspires more in the genre. show less

Well, this was different for me. I've never read anything where the female protagonist choses to live here life honestly as a boy. It's very well written, honest, funny, and sad all at the same time. This is a must-read for parents and teachers of teens who may be questioning their sexuality. Teen fans of Rainbow Boys, Geography Club, Boy Meets Boy, Annie on My Mind, etc. will really like this book.

Angela Katz-McNair has never felt totally right living as a girl. Inside, she's always known that she was a boy. So Angela cuts her hair, buys some boys' clothes, and decides on the new name Grady. These huge steps are only the beginning. Grady has to deal with telling his teachers, classmates, and family that he's now a boy. His best friend can't understand it and he feels like he's disappointed his family. But as time goes on and Grady keeps on living the only way he can, he realizes that show more there are some people that will accept him just as he is.

A heartfelt novel of a kid re-learning how to be and showing true courage. show less