George

Gino, A. (2015). George. NY: Scholastic. George is the protagonist in George. In the novel, George sees himself as a girl, Melissa, but is afraid of what his family might think of him as Melissa. George jumps at the part of Charlotte in an upcoming school production of Charlotte’s Web to see his family come to terms with his transgender, but his teacher denies him the part because he’s a boy. So, George forms a plan with his best friend Kelly in an attempt to both get the part of Charlotte, and to make everyone accept him as Melanie. At the end of the book, Kelly lets Melissa dress like a girl and together, they go out for a girl’s day out in the town, where Melissa is able to venture as the way she sees herself. Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky, Better Nate Than Never and its sequel, 5-6-7-Nate!, both by Tim Federle, are good recommendations for follow up reading. One major strength in George is that George is referred to as ‘she’ or ‘her’ instead of ‘he’ or ‘him’. I liked this because often, we would automatically think of George as a boy. George meets the social developmental criteria because George did not fit into the box that society made for him. George wanted to be Charlotte but it was not acceptable for a boy to play a girl role. So, George’s interests clashed with society’s expectations and he had to struggle to pursue his individual desire, which was to be Charlotte and Melissa.