A review by punchofwishes
The Ship We Built by Lexie Bean

5.0

Gosh, this was a heavy read, but I absolutely adored it. Rowan is such a great protagonist and I loved following him through 5th grade via his letters. Middle grade novels with LGBTQ+ protagonists have my whole heart. All I wanted to do was hug Rowan and his friend Sofie and protect them from all the things they have to endure. The portayal of young transness was incredible, Rowan’s questions about masculinity and how to be in this world were so poignant and real. What a book! Some of the 90s references felt a bit overly direct and some parts were too descriptive, but I 100% forgive that in the face of how emotionally touching and lyrically stunning this work is. You can feel the tender heart behind the story and I can’t imagine how it must be like to read this as a younger person affected by some of the issues portrayed here. What a gift to the world.