From the Publisher
A BookRiot Best Book for Pride Month!
Recommended Reading for NEA's Read Across America 2022-23
"Hopeful and real, this story is electric. There’s a lot to love here; recommended as a first purchase everywhere." —School Library Journal, starred review
"Polonsky (Gracefully Grayson, 2014) has written a hopeful and insightful text for young readers to explore gender and sexual identity through an enticing story of friendship, family, and first love." —Booklist
"Polonsky (Gracefully Grayson) sensitively handles Ollie’s gender identity while fully fleshing out their character. The novel makes a compelling argument, reinforced by an extended optical illusion metaphor, for looking at the world from another’s lens." —Publishers Weekly
"Bigotry against Ollie is briefly addressed in one scene but is done so tactfully; it is clear that a great deal of empathy has gone into this narrative. The romance and chemistry between Essie and Ollie are also enjoyable. A charming, feel-good LGBTQ+ story." —Kirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews
2021-02-17
Esther, who goes by Essie, moves to a new state and falls in love.
Essie relocates to North Carolina with her dad for a semester as part of his job as a professor. She says a temporary goodbye to her old friends but soon meets nonbinary Ollie and develops a crush on them. Essie helps Ollie out with the school’s LGBTQ+ club while starting to question her own orientation because of her feelings for Ollie. The narrative is split into two halves, the first narrated by Essie and the second by Ollie, which cover the same time span, helpfully marked by a day count. Gender identity forms a large part of the narrative, but Ollie’s nonbinary gender is portrayed as a natural part of them rather than a big issue or wow moment. Ollie’s relationship with their mother is adorable and heartwarming, with their mother using the rather sweet and gender-neutral “kiddo” to refer to them. Bigotry against Ollie is briefly addressed in one scene but is done so tactfully; it is clear that a great deal of empathy has gone into this narrative. The romance and chemistry between Essie and Ollie are also enjoyable. Essie and Ollie are both White while two of their mutual friends are Black and Latinx.
A charming, feel-good LGBTQ+ story. (Fiction. 10-14)
