73
Novel 7

George, a fourth-grader who knows she is a girl, despite appearances, begins to tell her secret.

The word “transgender” is used midway through, but far more work is done by the simple choice to tell George’s story using third-person narration and the pronouns “she” and “her.” Readers then cringe as much as George herself when bullies mock her or—perhaps worse—when well-meaning friends and family reassure her with sentiments like “I know you’ll turn into a fine young man.” Each year the fourth-graders at George’s school perform a dramatized version of Charlotte’s Web, the essentials of which are lovingly recapped (and tear-inducing ending revealed) for readers unfamiliar with the tale. George becomes convinced that if she plays Charlotte, her mom will finally see her as a girl. George’s struggles are presented with a light, age-appropriate, and hopeful touch. The responses she gets when she begins to confide in those closest to her are at times unexpected but perfectly true-to-character—most notably her crude older brother’s supportive observation that, “No offense, but you don’t make a very good boy.” A coda to the Charlotte’s Web story, in which George presents herself as a girl for the first time, is deeply moving in its simplicity and joy. (This review was updated to reflect a change to the title.)

Warm, funny, and inspiring. (Fiction. 9-12)

-Kirkus Review

When people look at George they think they see a boy, but really she is a girl. George thinks she will have to keep her secret forever. Then the teacher announces they are going to be doing a play based on Charlotte's Web. George wants to try out for Charlotte in the play, but the teacher says that she can't because she is a boy. ( )

My friend's granddaughter, a prodigious reader currently in third grade, recommended this to me. Since she was 5 once or twice a year we will do buddy reads and go out for tea to discuss. I do not usually log those books here, the first few were picture books but now we are fully into middle-grade chapter books. I decided to log this one because I am using it to complete one of the prompts for my Read Harder Challenge (Read a novel about a trans character written by a trans author.)

When Gaia recommended the book I thought I had never heard of it, but in fact I had. The book was published some years back as "George" but I did not know it was republished as ""Melissa." It tells the story of a trans child who, over the course of a couple of weeks, comes out to family and classmates as a girl. It is sweet, age appropriate, and uses as a backdrop a production of Charlotte's Web, which is one of my favorite children's books. It was perhaps a little too "hooray, you're trans!" even for middle grades readers (my guess is that most other nonbinary and trans children will be disappointed in the reactions they get if they choose to share their gender identity) but it was still nicely done. A 3.5 rounded up because I think it will be lifechanging, maybe lifesaving, for some kids out there -- and as I mentioned, the right reader for this, the 8 year old, loved it. ( )

The story of Melissa who wants to play Charlotte in the class play of Charlotte's Web in the play that her class puts on after reading the book. A nice story, it has been banned in various places because of the storyline. ( )