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A review by kappareads
Ciel by Sophie LaBelle
4.0
Real rating: 3.5 stars
Read this review and others like it on my blog, Kappa Reads!
ARC received from NetGalley.
I've read Sophie Labelle's comics and so when I saw she had a book coming out, I had to grab an ARC.
This is a cute slice-of-life novel about entering high school as a nonbinary teen. I feel like the author really hit the uncertainties of freshman year well, with stress regarding coming out again to teachers, gender presentation, and keeping and making friends.
This book was really comprehensive in it's portrayal of being trans. Ciel, the main character, is half-Brazillain and nonbinary, but doesn't mind being perceived as feminine and will use Alessandra in classes. They're friends with Stephie, a trans girl who wants to go stealth in high school and later means Liam, a trans boy, who swims competitively. They represent a wide array of how people can be trans and I really appreciated that. Also, I think all of these characters are on hormone blockers, so I'm really excited that that was entirely normalized!
One complaint I had was that the secondary characters didn't have very fleshed out storylines and I feel there was more potential for that, especially with Liam and Stephie. Some dialogue and narration felt weirdly worded as well, but not enough to take away my enjoyment of the story.
I rated this book 3.5 stars! This is the middle grade trans book I've been waiting for, and I'm excited there are trans kids who are going to be able to read this!
Read this review and others like it on my blog, Kappa Reads!
ARC received from NetGalley.
I've read Sophie Labelle's comics and so when I saw she had a book coming out, I had to grab an ARC.
This is a cute slice-of-life novel about entering high school as a nonbinary teen. I feel like the author really hit the uncertainties of freshman year well, with stress regarding coming out again to teachers, gender presentation, and keeping and making friends.
This book was really comprehensive in it's portrayal of being trans. Ciel, the main character, is half-Brazillain and nonbinary, but doesn't mind being perceived as feminine and will use Alessandra in classes. They're friends with Stephie, a trans girl who wants to go stealth in high school and later means Liam, a trans boy, who swims competitively. They represent a wide array of how people can be trans and I really appreciated that. Also, I think all of these characters are on hormone blockers, so I'm really excited that that was entirely normalized!
One complaint I had was that the secondary characters didn't have very fleshed out storylines and I feel there was more potential for that, especially with Liam and Stephie. Some dialogue and narration felt weirdly worded as well, but not enough to take away my enjoyment of the story.
I rated this book 3.5 stars! This is the middle grade trans book I've been waiting for, and I'm excited there are trans kids who are going to be able to read this!