George by Alex Gino book review

George is a 4th grade boy, who decides he wants to try out for the role of Charlotte, from Charlotte’s Web, during the class/school play.  He and his best friend, Kelly, practice the part of Charlotte.  He is not really interested in typical “boy” topics and hobbies.  His best friend is a girl and they talk about stereotypical girl things. George tries to keep his secret from his mom and brother in that he feels like a girl on the inside. George has a hidden stash of magazines that are teen girl magazines, but he is ashamed of them and hides them from his family.  After all the rehearsing of Charlotte’s part, George gets shut down pretty quickly by the teachers who tell him it is a “girls” part and don’t let him try out.  He goes home very sad, but can’t really tell his mom what happened.

There is nothing inappropriate in this story as far as anything sexual or more in depth transgender details.  This is a upper elementary story about someone who does not feel comfortable in his body.  I feel that it is written for young children.  It may help a child who feels different or it may generate empathy and understanding in readers who have a friend like George.  I really think it’s a groundbreaking book to give a voice to those who have not traditionally had a voice in children’s books.  The narrator uses female pronouns for George, while teachers, classmates and family use male pronouns. This book is providing a diverse character for some readers to identify with, who many not have many fictional characters to identify with. This book is not being challenged for any words contained within the pages, but for its ideas.  I’m sure the ones most vocal against this book have not actually read it.

I picked this book up because it was appearing on the ALA most frequently banned/challenged lists for 2017.  It is definitely a elementary/middle grade reader, which I usually don’t purchase for my high school library.  However, I did think it would be a good addition to our GLBTQ collection just in case there was a student who saw the banned book list and was interested in reading it.  Although, I can see where conservative groups would try to remove it from school libraries. I also picked up this book because I heard Alex Gino speak at nErDcampMI about the book and I am always interested in the books when authors talk about them.  There is definitely a personal connection. The cover design is simple, but very cute and when you open the cover, there are multi-colored hand drawn pictures depicting items most young children enjoy.  Overall, it’s a well written, groundbreaking book.  I would recommend it for school and public libraries.

Author's Website: http://www.alexgino.com/george/