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Annabelle Blake fully expects this school year to be the same as every other: same teachers, same classmates, same, same, same. So she’s elated to discover there’s a new kid in town. To Annabelle, Bailey is a breath of fresh air. She loves hearing about their life in Seattle, meeting their loquacious (and kinda corny) parents, and hanging out at their massive house. And it doesn’t hurt that Bailey has a cute smile, nice hands (how can someone even have nice hands?) and smells really good.
Suddenly sixth grade is anything but the same. And when her irascible father shares that he and Bailey have something big—and surprising—in common, Annabelle begins to see herself, and her family, in a whole new light. At the same time she starts to realize that her community, which she always thought of as home, might not be as welcoming as she had thought. Together Annabelle, Bailey, and their families discover how these categories that seem to mean so much—boy, girl, gay, straight, fruit, vegetable—aren’t so clear-cut after all.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
April 12, 2022 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780593503225
- File size: 264482 KB
- Duration: 09:11:00
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 820
- Text Difficulty: 3-4
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Reviews
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February 7, 2022
Rising sixth grader Annabelle Blake is in her last year at her Tahoma Falls, Wash. school, and all she wants is a break from her small-town routine. Happily, change soon arrives in the form of Bailey Wick, a nonbinary new student on whom Annabelle develops her first crush. When Annabelle’s father reacts poorly upon learning Bailey’s gender, Annabelle learns that her dad is a “stealth” trans man who no longer publicly participates in a local LGBTQ community. Inspired by both her father and by Bailey, whose gender is disrespected by adults in the school community, Annabelle and her classmates fight for real, progressive change via protests and a Coming Out Day panel. Via the cued-white protagonists, Lukoff (Too Bright to See) highlights topics including climate change, gender presentation, intercommunity conflict, and LGBTQ history, but supporting characters—especially Bailey and their parents—are insufficiently developed, serving primarily to explain LGBTQ terms to Annabelle. Still, Annabelle’s energetic voice is infectious, and the book’s central theme—that labels can be both powerful and arbitrary—is bighearted and affirming. Ages 10–14. Agent: Saba Sulaiman, Talcott Notch. -
Narrator Cassandra Morris's youthful tone fits Annabelle, a sixth-grader who has grown up sheltered in a small town until she crushes on Bailey, a new, nonbinary student. Transgender author Kyle Lukoff develops rounded characters with authenticity, all accurately portrayed by Morris. She captures Annabelle's confusion and curiosity about gender terms and her own identity, and, later, the freshness of Annabelle's new perspectives and her process of internalizing them. Metaphors and meaningful incidents aid Annabelle along a surprising path as she comes to better understand the world and herself amid clashes of prejudice, perspective, and privilege. The audio includes an afterword by Lukoff. He describes the book's journey, his personal experiences, and all the people who helped him. A great family listen for adults and children seeking to better understand gender identity. S.W. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine
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