Gracefully Grayson

Good book. I'm at a place where it's hard for me to read about innocent people having to be strong around bigots, because we allow too much cruelty.

I majorly question a non-trans author's intents when the word “transgender” or any variation of it is absent from a book about a trans person. At no point in the story is it ever said that there are other people like the narrator (other trans girls). I also find it extremely disheartening that more than half of the reviews on Goodreads for this book refer to the narrator as “he” and as a boy and they think that it's fine to do that to a trans girl.

If this book were meant to help trans kids, it would have had the word transgender in it, or some mention of the existence of transgender people that makes it clear that the narrator isn't the only trans person in the world. This is a book written so that non-trans folks can feel good about themselves for sympathizing with a sad trans girl, while still calling her “he” and a boy.

I enjoyed this story, and I'm glad there's a MG fiction with a transgender protagonist.

Howeverrrr it did feel a bit simplistic to me? And also, I know it's a MG novel and maybe the author didn't want to be too much of an “issue” novel, but I'm a little surprised the word “transgender” is never used in this? Like Grayson starts to accept her feelings that she's a girl, not a boy, and starts wearing feminine clothes to school. But it seems like it wouldn't be that much of a stretch for the Understanding Drama Director to say, “Hey, BTW, have you ever heard the word ‘transgender,' because maybe that label would be useful to you?” All we get is dancing around it like “always been like this.” Like it could almost easily be a story about an effeminate boy coming to terms with getting bullied for liking “girly” stuff?

Still! Like I said, I enjoyed reading it. Certainly a good contribution to the MG LGBTQ canon.