George by Alex Gino

★★★★

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

George is a transgender girl in the fourth grade.

Right from the beginning, the book jumps into the story by referring to George with female pronouns like "she" and "her", even though she is not yet out, and everyone around her refers to her as a boy. It's a bit jarring, but drives home the point that George is a girl, and her whole existence feels wrong to her, with her name and appearance not actually matching her sense of gender. In fact, it was interesting how the grammar paralleled George's story; when George finally went out in public as a girl and used the name Melissa - and the book's pronouns finally matched her name - it really just felt right.

Admittedly, I was not especially impressed by the writing at first. There seemed to be a lot more "telling" than "showing" when it came to introducing the characters. I thought I might give the book's rating an extra bump just because of its socially relevant content, but as the story developed, I think it earned the full four stars. I was won over by the way the story referenced Charlotte's Web (one of my favorite books), and I found the final chapter with Melissa and her best friend Kelly just so heartwarming and uplifting.

It may be helpful to know that this book is not a book that just happens to feature a transgender character - the entire plot of the book revolves around directly addressing the topic of what it means to be transgender in an age-appropriate way for upper elementary readers. Both George and Kelly do just happen to have single parents, though, which was a nice change from the typical all-families-have-happily-married-parents set-up that we usually see in children's books.

Being cisgender myself, I can't speak to the accuracy or authenticity of George's experiences, though it all seemed pretty believable to me. I think George's mom's reaction - at first dismissive, then unpleasantly surprised, and ultimately supportive in a we'll-figure-this-out-together type of way - was realistic and appropriate for the intended audience. If she had been outrightly accepting from the beginning, it would have seemed too pat. If she had been too harshly intolerant, it could have been too much for young readers to bear. I loved that George's teenage brother was matter-of-fact accepting, and that Kelly welcomed Melissa with open arms. I imagine that not all transgender kids would be lucky enough to have a friend like Kelly, but I appreciate seeing that kind of friendship modeled in the book.

It's nice that the book ended as it did, but I would have liked to have seen George take Principal Maldonado up on her offer of support, maybe see how the principal could have helped George's mom, perhaps even connect her with a support group or other resources. Maybe it would have been too much to go into for a book at this level, but I also would have liked to read more about how George/Melissa might have handled her transition in school, and how Ms. Udell and the other students might have reacted.