"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein

22 August 2014

For Today I am a Boy



Fu, Kim. For Today I am a Boy. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2014.

Peter and his three sisters grow up in their small-town Canadian home. Peter is transgender, but his father insists that Peter embrace his masculinity.

This book is marketed as a young adult novel, but it reads much more like an adult memoir. There's no plot at all, and the book, rather than being a cohesive narrative, is a jumbled collection of stories and memories of Peter's childhood, none of which tell us much at all about Peter himself. This was almost worse than a stereotypical trans* book because there's nothing going on. I would not in any way recommend this to my students simply because they would be bored to tears. Adults would probably enjoy this book, so if I were in a public library, I would shelve this in the adult collection and pair it with memoirs since that's what it reads like.

Recommended for: adults
Red Flags: none stand out
Overall Rating: 2/5 stars

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