George
George
by Alex Gino
Some people are born into a body they don't identify with. George is a girl who is born in a boy's body. Throughout the book she refers to herself as "she", identifies as a girl, but is looked upon as a boy since she was born with the boy body parts.
When people look at George, they see a boy. But George knows she’s a girl.
George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever.
Cliched single mom and macho older brother fade into the background, but, George's best friend Kelly stays tight through and through. Kelly is fine with George identifying as a girl. When auditions for class presentation of Charlott'e Web is announced, George immediately wants to play Charlotte, the female spider, and not Wilbur, the male pig.
The book is a quick read, but the message will linger long after the last page is read and the book is put away.
Theater as a backdrop for this story is fitting as where else can George pretend to be who she really is.
When George's brother and mother finally realize and accept it, there is not much brouhaha over George's gender identity. George is who she is. Except, she wants to go by Melissa, that is her name, that is what she wants to be called.
The ending is perfect, where Kelly lets George/Melissa try on her girly clothes and they both go out into the world (to the Zoo with Kelly's uncle, to be precise) and for the first time George is comfortable with being true to herself.
The resident 11-year old read it casually one weekend and had a few questions to ask about this book, which is a positive sign for me.
[image source: http://www.alexgino.com/george/]
Some people are born into a body they don't identify with. George is a girl who is born in a boy's body. Throughout the book she refers to herself as "she", identifies as a girl, but is looked upon as a boy since she was born with the boy body parts.
When people look at George, they see a boy. But George knows she’s a girl.
George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever.
Cliched single mom and macho older brother fade into the background, but, George's best friend Kelly stays tight through and through. Kelly is fine with George identifying as a girl. When auditions for class presentation of Charlott'e Web is announced, George immediately wants to play Charlotte, the female spider, and not Wilbur, the male pig.
The book is a quick read, but the message will linger long after the last page is read and the book is put away.
Theater as a backdrop for this story is fitting as where else can George pretend to be who she really is.
When George's brother and mother finally realize and accept it, there is not much brouhaha over George's gender identity. George is who she is. Except, she wants to go by Melissa, that is her name, that is what she wants to be called.
The ending is perfect, where Kelly lets George/Melissa try on her girly clothes and they both go out into the world (to the Zoo with Kelly's uncle, to be precise) and for the first time George is comfortable with being true to herself.
The resident 11-year old read it casually one weekend and had a few questions to ask about this book, which is a positive sign for me.
[image source: http://www.alexgino.com/george/]
Labels: ages 9-12, books, chapterbooks, fiction, gender-identity, MG
posted by Sheela
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