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radikaliseradgroda's review against another edition
3.0
Reading this book was like taking a deep breath after being under water. "It's okay," it says, "you're not alone and you never were." Not only that, but I also learned a thing or two! Required reading for us *cough* cis allies.
stevia333k's review against another edition
5.0
The audiobook didn't have like notes & apprendixes, but it did allow me to read kn less than 2 hours what had taken me 10 years before to read on paper.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia and Forced institutionalization
mesy_mark's review against another edition
reflective
2.25
The concept of this book is great but the execution was poor. Focus really on the basics of trans thing through each, hormones, and surgery, rather than how the teen lives their life while also happening to be trans. Because if you are trans wanting to read about other trans lives you're going to already know what the basics are. The audience wasn't for the community it was for those who wanted to dive into personal questions that is a doc and trans person should be having. I would have liked this book more if it was focused on the lives of trans teen rather than what are they doing to further their transition, How about getting into their bobbies and other nontransrealted and if the fact that they are trans as caused opticals bring that up rather then each story be on getting on hormones.
mmotleyu's review against another edition
4.0
This book opened my eyes to some of the issues faced by the LGBTQ+ community. These stories related by teens or young adults who have transitioned helped me to understand the multitude of issues and judgment that these individuals endure. After reading this I got to thinking about how little I really knew (even though I consider myself to be open minded and accepting), but I honestly knew very little (or hadn't really thought much about) about being transgender. As a result of reading this, I wanted to make a display to feature LGBTQ+ books but wasn't sure how to go about it without stereotyping... I reached out to our GSA and they jumped at the idea to help with the display. What they created was amazing and giving voice to this often marginalized group was so empowering. They were surprised at all of the books we did have that were written by, were about or had LGBTQ+ characters in them. The one thing that stood out to me was how the reaction of each person's family had the biggest impact on how the coming out/transition went.
lavao's review against another edition
2.0
This was written for cis people who have never met a trans person.
librarytheri's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
3.0
Likely groundbreaking at the time of publication. Now it likely is more eye opening to adults who don’t know anyone on the nonbinary spectrum than any adolescents.
eowen2696's review against another edition
2.0
I went back and forth on this book; I think that the author had good intentions in writing it and in seeking out trans and nonbinary teens/young adults to interview. However, if this is being used for what I'm assuming its intended purpose is (which is educating parents/adults about what it means to be transgender), then I see some glaring problems with some of the stories featured in the book. Of course, it's difficult to critique someone's experiences or their personality, but some of these kids made statements that were so problematic that I had to put the book down and shake my head at times.
One young trans man, Jessy, displays such toxic masculinity that it's sometimes astounding; he makes comments about the way he was treated when he presented female versus the treatment he receives now that he presents male - rather than looking critically at the ways gender roles negatively impact people and challenging them, he chooses to embrace stereotypical gender roles since he can now benefit from them as a man. His girlfriend continuously misgenders him and says that he's "like a gay man" just because he looks after his appearance.
Mariah talks about some straight-up predatory behavior that she's both been the victim and the perpetrator of, but neither she or the author makes any attempt to point out how wrong these things are. She also makes comments about how "[she's] not a racist, but black people are very ghetto." The way that this book frames her story has the potential to be SO harmful to audiences that are not already familiar with transgender issues - I find that it could potentially reinforce the conspiracy theory that being trans is a result of child abuse or neglect when it's definitely not.
Nat makes comments about how the majority of girls are only concerned with frivolous, unimportant things. They also make numerous comments about "sluts" in regards to girls' appearances and makes some pretty biphobic comments about people in their school's GSA "saying" they're bisexual. When a girl kisses them, they say, "According to her, she was bisexual."
There are some good stories that I enjoyed and think could be super beneficial to audiences; Christina's story was amazing and I loved reading about her relationship with her mother. I would absolutely die for Cameron - I think their story was the most well-told and I loved the utilization of photography in showing their various presentations. I enjoyed Luke's story as well, but wished it was longer.
Overall, the negatives of this book outweighed the positives for me and I worry that it might end up doing more harm than good for a general audience.
One young trans man, Jessy, displays such toxic masculinity that it's sometimes astounding; he makes comments about the way he was treated when he presented female versus the treatment he receives now that he presents male - rather than looking critically at the ways gender roles negatively impact people and challenging them, he chooses to embrace stereotypical gender roles since he can now benefit from them as a man. His girlfriend continuously misgenders him and says that he's "like a gay man" just because he looks after his appearance.
Mariah talks about some straight-up predatory behavior that she's both been the victim and the perpetrator of, but neither she or the author makes any attempt to point out how wrong these things are. She also makes comments about how "[she's] not a racist, but black people are very ghetto." The way that this book frames her story has the potential to be SO harmful to audiences that are not already familiar with transgender issues - I find that it could potentially reinforce the conspiracy theory that being trans is a result of child abuse or neglect when it's definitely not.
Nat makes comments about how the majority of girls are only concerned with frivolous, unimportant things. They also make numerous comments about "sluts" in regards to girls' appearances and makes some pretty biphobic comments about people in their school's GSA "saying" they're bisexual. When a girl kisses them, they say, "According to her, she was bisexual."
There are some good stories that I enjoyed and think could be super beneficial to audiences; Christina's story was amazing and I loved reading about her relationship with her mother. I would absolutely die for Cameron - I think their story was the most well-told and I loved the utilization of photography in showing their various presentations. I enjoyed Luke's story as well, but wished it was longer.
Overall, the negatives of this book outweighed the positives for me and I worry that it might end up doing more harm than good for a general audience.