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c_dmckinney's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
The only reason I am not giving this a five star rating is because I absolutely hated how the original owner of Chewbarka was made out to be cruel for taking a senior dog with a deteriorating quality of life and fairly involved special needs to be put to sleep. He was wrong for lying to his family about what happened to Chewbarka, but I have a lot of sympathy for someone who cannot for whatever reason provide the right kind of ongoing care to an aging dog. Euthanasia is not always cruel or wrong.
That said this book was absolutely beautiful and I wish everyone with queer young people in their lives would read it. Honestly I would recommend it to everyone, maybe especially people who don't have (or don't think they have any) genderqueer people in their lives.
I found the author's exploration of understanding one's gender and gender roles very considerate and sincere. It was raw and tender and not too neat. It was compassionate to a perspective that I have never previously seen explored well at all much less in middle grade fiction.
This was a very sweet young romance set in the backdrop of the trials and tribulations of middle school where identity and fitting in is perhaps the hardest in any young person's life.
Also this is somewhat unrelated but I can tell the author spends A LOT of time in various online communities. There's a lot of language that is definitely not used offline. I found it terribly endearing, but that is because I also use online lingo offline sometimes.
That said this book was absolutely beautiful and I wish everyone with queer young people in their lives would read it. Honestly I would recommend it to everyone, maybe especially people who don't have (or don't think they have any) genderqueer people in their lives.
I found the author's exploration of understanding one's gender and gender roles very considerate and sincere. It was raw and tender and not too neat. It was compassionate to a perspective that I have never previously seen explored well at all much less in middle grade fiction.
This was a very sweet young romance set in the backdrop of the trials and tribulations of middle school where identity and fitting in is perhaps the hardest in any young person's life.
Also this is somewhat unrelated but I can tell the author spends A LOT of time in various online communities. There's a lot of language that is definitely not used offline. I found it terribly endearing, but that is because I also use online lingo offline sometimes.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexism, Death, Misogyny, Outing, Dysphoria, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Animal death, Bullying, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Deadnaming, Death, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail
tetedump's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Outing, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Toxic relationship, Hate crime, Transphobia, and Injury/Injury detail
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