Starred review from September 18, 2023
Art imitates life in Walls’s timely and emotionally raw debut. When transgender Latinx teen Dawn, an aspiring director, learns that the early version of her documentary on queer love, The Queer Girl Is Going to Be Okay, has moved on to the second round of judging in the 30th annual Austin Film Festival, she’s eager to finish and submit the final short film. If her feature does well, she could receive a full-ride scholarship to the University of Texas, money she desperately needs as her ailing father’s sole caretaker. To round out her movie, Dawn wants to document queer love and “all its caveats and inconveniences” through the perspectives of her friends Georgia and Edie. Meanwhile, Korean American wordsmith Georgia’s close relationship with her mother is jeopardized by Mom’s new boyfriend, whose unpredictable behavior makes Georgia uneasy, and Edie, who is Black, feels compelled to hide her nonbinary partner from her family due to her religious upbringing. Via the girls’ alternating POVs and interview excerpts from Dawn’s documentary, Walls expertly navigates sometimes-overwhelming feelings of grief, internalized self-hatred, and love, as well as the complexity of queer teenage relationships. As the protagonists encounter mental health struggles, misgendering, and sexual harassment, their close-knit friendship highlights queer platonic love, and emphasizes how chosen family gives them a safe space to weather any storm. Ages 12–up. Agent: Garrett Alwert, Emerald City Literary.
October 1, 2023
Three queer best friends navigate love and relationships as they prepare to graduate high school. Dawn Salcedo is spending her senior year completing her passion project, a documentary about queer love starring her best friends, Georgia and Edie, and other queer students at their school. When her entry makes it to the final round of the student category of the Austin Film Festival, Dawn has the chance to win a life-changing college scholarship that would allow her to pursue her dream of becoming a filmmaker, using her savings to pay for a caregiver for her sick father. Dawn, who is Latine and trans, also wants a relationship with a boy that is "normal and good and sweet." Korean American Georgia adores her single mother, but their closeness is strained when her mom begins dating a man who has a disturbing side. Edie, who is Black, is trying to be the perfect daughter and hides from her religious parents the fact that she's dating someone who's nonbinary. The third-person narrative primarily focuses on Dawn, but Georgia's and Edie's stories unfold with complexity as well. Unfortunately, the novel feels too short for readers to fully get to know and become invested in the characters. This debut sincerely explores feelings that will resonate with readers, but many of the serious themes threaded through it would have benefitted greatly from more extensive and deeper treatment. Emotionally moving but underdeveloped. (Fiction. 13-18)
COPYRIGHT(2023) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from November 1, 2023
Grades 9-12 *Starred Review* Dawn Salcedo is only one month away from a lifelong dream coming true. She is a finalist for a film-festival prize and confident the award--a full ride scholarship to the University of Texas at Austin film school--is within reach. All she needs to do is submit a final cut of her documentary about queer love by the deadline. In no young adult novel has it ever been that simple. Only a few weeks away from the deadline Dawn is dealt a devastating rejection by a romantic prospect, and later a family crisis forces her to confront some harsh realities. It's suddenly unclear whether or not she'll win the scholarship, or, despite the title's assertion, be okay. Enter Edie and Georgia, Dawn's two best friends, also queer girls, with their own problems to deal with, but they're equally indomitable. The three Houston-based friends are committed to supporting one another's happiness, even if it means they end up apart. Walls has created an enveloping, affirming world and a story that moves at a steady clip, thanks to their witty dialogue interspersed with text messages, emotional gut punches, and profound truths. Generously applied pop culture, music, film, and literature references can be mined for "further reading." Spoiler alert: the queer girl is okay at the end, and it is because the fiercest love is between friends.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
December 8, 2023
Gr 8 Up-Life in Houston isn't all roses for queer seniors Georgia, Edie, and Dawn-but at least they have one another. Georgia wants to be a writer but feels like she is the only one who hasn't been accepted into college yet. Edie keeps her nonbinary beau a secret from her Southern Baptist family. Dawn channels her woes of dating as a trans girl into a documentary project about queer love that makes it into a student film festival. With everything going on, can the girls savor their last year together before graduation? Walls's debut is an insightful yet brief look at queer love in its many forms. Some chapters include direct excerpts from the documentary's monologues, giving voice to identities beyond the racially diverse main trio. While romantic love certainly gets its air time, the exploration of platonic queer love especially shines. VERDICT A winning combination of film, friendship, and queer possibility. Highly recommended.-Alec Chunn
Copyright 2023 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.