5 stars
| I loved this book. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. A wonderful book for young readers to better understand what it means for someone to be trans. One of the things I liked most about the book was the author’s use of the pronoun “she” in reference to George, even before she openly told anyone she felt like she was a girl. I think it really made it clear to the reader that there was no question whether George was supposed to be a girl or not. It was a fact that she was a girl. This helped to combat the common counterarguments society often tries to make about trans youth (“you’re too young to know”, “you’re just going through a phase”, “you have boy parts so you are a boy”, etc.). I also thought the other characters’ reactions were well done. Kelly’s was my favorite, because even before George told her, she was always trying to defend George and build her up, saying not to listen to the bully who called her a girl, without realizing that wasn’t the support George needed. It is so easy to have good intentions, but make mistakes such as these, especially for young children. As the novel progresses, Kelly demonstrates one way of being a good ally and friend, which I loved. She doesn’t get all caught up ruminating on her mistake or denying it. She just changes her way of thinking and goes on to be very supportive. I’ve seen a lot of criticism of the book in regards to its use of gender stereotypes, which is fair, but I do think because the characters are so young, it does seem realistic. Children often have rigid rules about what constitutes girl stuff and boy stuff. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard elementary and preschool kids tell boys their favorite color can’t be pink because it’s a girl color or that boys can’t like My Little Pony because it’s a girl show. So while George does hold fairly stereotypical ideas of gender (make up, skirts), I think this is probably due to these strict rules as well as what most represents being a girl to her at that age (i.e. all the things she isn’t allowed to do because of how people see her gender). Overall, I thought this was a fantastic read and a great starting place for introducing the idea of transgender to young readers. Great writing, wonderful story, and a good cast of characters. While it was short, it had a great message and lesson, which it presents perfectly for young readers. Goodreads |