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A review by bickie
Obie Is Man Enough by Schuyler Bailar
5.0
Beautifully done. Significant challenges encountered by Obie as he transitions before 6th grade. There is a lot going on in this book - competitive swimming, first romantic relationship (7th grade), cruel bullying (both of Obie and of his previously best friend Lucy). New friendships are formed, old ones changed. The reactions of the school principal and teacher-mentor Mrs. Salmani (Persian-American) to bullying at school are unwaveringly firm. Obie's family and new swim team and coach are also completely supportive. There is even a point where a side character provides the kind of little-but-huge detail support that means the world to Obie - .
Some of this feels a bit more aspirational than realistic, and since it's fiction, I am glad for it. It shows a model of how things could be (less the vile bullying) rather than reinforcing other models as "normal." The support Obie receives should be normal and expected by all.
Trans kids considering reading this should definitely read the content warnings at the beginning of the book. If they have not experienced this kind of violent hate - or even if they have - they might not want to read about it. It is intense. At the same time, the hate is primarily perpetrated by the previous swim coach and his son, one of Obie's previously best friends, and the rest of the characters are generally overwhelmingly supportive, reinforcing messages to Obie that 1) he doesn't owe anyone any explanations or information and 2) any problems people have with Obie are their problems, not Obie's.
Cis kids, teachers, parents, and any others who wish to have more models of what trans allyship looks like will get a lot out of this book.
Be sure to read the author's note to both cis and trans readers at the end, and look at the resources he provides. They are excellent.
CW: Physical assault requiring stitches (includes hospital scene), verbal bullying including the f*g word (and an explanation at one point about the meaning of the word and how it got to be a slur - pretty chilling) and slut-shaming, deadnaming, outing, transphobia, homophobia, death of parent/grandparent, brief story of war violence (Korea), fear of divorce...
One of Obie's grandparents "escaped" from Germany during WW2, but she also has a Bible. That story is not explored. Obie's other grandmother walked from Pyongyang to Seoul during the Korean war after having lived under Japanese occupation for her whole life before that. She is devoutly Catholic.
Spoiler
the owner of a deli where Obie has been going pretty much is whole life talks about how he has known Obie since "he was a little boy"Some of this feels a bit more aspirational than realistic, and since it's fiction, I am glad for it. It shows a model of how things could be (less the vile bullying) rather than reinforcing other models as "normal." The support Obie receives should be normal and expected by all.
Trans kids considering reading this should definitely read the content warnings at the beginning of the book. If they have not experienced this kind of violent hate - or even if they have - they might not want to read about it. It is intense. At the same time, the hate is primarily perpetrated by the previous swim coach and his son, one of Obie's previously best friends, and the rest of the characters are generally overwhelmingly supportive, reinforcing messages to Obie that 1) he doesn't owe anyone any explanations or information and 2) any problems people have with Obie are their problems, not Obie's.
Cis kids, teachers, parents, and any others who wish to have more models of what trans allyship looks like will get a lot out of this book.
Be sure to read the author's note to both cis and trans readers at the end, and look at the resources he provides. They are excellent.
CW: Physical assault requiring stitches (includes hospital scene), verbal bullying including the f*g word (and an explanation at one point about the meaning of the word and how it got to be a slur - pretty chilling) and slut-shaming, deadnaming, outing, transphobia, homophobia, death of parent/grandparent, brief story of war violence (Korea), fear of divorce...
One of Obie's grandparents "escaped" from Germany during WW2, but she also has a Bible. That story is not explored. Obie's other grandmother walked from Pyongyang to Seoul during the Korean war after having lived under Japanese occupation for her whole life before that. She is devoutly Catholic.