Blog Tour Review: Changers: Drew by T. Cooper & Alison Glock-Cooper

Changers: Drew by T. Cooper & Alison Glock-Cooper (eProof) - Changers Book One: Drew opens on the eve of Ethan Miller's freshman year of high school in a brand-new town. He's finally sporting a haircut he doesn’t hate, has grown two inches since middle school, and can't wait to try out for the soccer team. At last, everything is looking up in life.

Until the next morning. When Ethan awakens as a girl.

Ethan is a Changer, a little-known, ancient race of humans who live out each of their four years of high school as a different person. After graduation, Changers choose which version of themselves they will be forever--and no, they cannot go back to who they were before the changes began.

Ethan must now live as Drew Bohner--a petite blonde with an unfortunate last name--and navigate the treacherous waters of freshman year while also following the rules: Never tell anyone what you are. Never disobey the Changers Council. And never, ever fall in love with another Changer. Oh, and Drew also has to battle a creepy underground syndicate called "Abiders" (as well as the sadistic school queen bee, Chloe). And she can't even confide in her best friend Audrey, who can never know the real her, without risking both of their lives. From Goodreads.

I was really interested in Changers: Drew by T. Cooper & Allison Glock-Cooper when I first heard about it; but I'm sad to say I found it quite disappointing.

Ethan wakes up the first day of high school to discover that he's a girl. Absolutely terrified, he has no idea what's going on. Then his parents tell him; he is a Changer. With a Changer parent, he has been chosen to undergo a mission in empathy, to make the world a better place. Every year of high school, he will become someone new. This first year, he is now Drew. Drew must start school in a new town, make friends, and face the usual challenges that come with starting high school, while she has no idea who or what she really is.

My main problem with this book is the world building. I still have no idea why there are Changers and what it is they're supposed to do - and neither does Drew. It's all cloaked in secrecy, and there's enough to know that there is something to being a Changer other than changing bodies for four years, but I've no clue as to what. Except that it's not all the Changer Council claims it is. Which we find out from the very, very beginning, before the Prologue, when we're kind of told, in brief, about the amazing things Drew (or whoever she will become) is involved in, in a "before all this stuff happened, he was a normal boy" way. But it's a hint that there's a huge amount of stuff to come. But in this first book? Nothing major, in the great scheme of things. It's like it's setting up the story, without giving you much to go on.

However, there are a lot of elements to this story that were really interesting. As you can imagine, there are some trans themes; before she gets used to who she now is, Drew felt a lot like her body didn't match up who she was - at the time, a boy. What's different is the sudden change from being male, having known being and feeling male, to then being female. What was really interesting about this was a guy seeing how girls are treated, the other side of the coin. There are some really feminist moments; Drew realising what it's like to receive unwanted attention, expecting to look and dress a certain way by society, and so forth. It was really interesting for her to realise just what it's like to be a girl, and I would have loved if there were more moments like this. For this book, it's where the empathy comes into play.

When she was Ethan, Drew was attracted to girls. Now as Drew, that hasn't really changed, and she is kind of confused when she starts falling for her best friend Audrey, because she's now a girl. At the same time, when she starts finding herself attracted to a boy, she reacts even worse. She still feels like a boy, and now she's finding herself feeling things for a boy, and she's so confused. Drew's feelings and her sexuality are developed as the story goes on, and it's really interesting to see how this element to the story, and her coming to terms with this new side of her and her feelings.

The book did take me a really long time to read, though. I found I didn't emotionally connect to Drew, and she was quite a young character. I didn't care enough about her or her story to keep picking it up, I just wasn't interested, and would find other things I was more interested in doing. Saying that, as the story was starting to end, there were hints that the story would progress into something more interesting, so I might have a look at the second book, Changers: Oryon. For the general premise of the story of waking up as a different person, it was fascinating, but as a story with a sci-fi element, I was pretty disappointed.

Thank you to Atom via NetGalley for the eProof.



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Published: 12th January 2016
Publisher: Atom
#WeAreChangers' Website

Why Authors Coming Out Is an Incredible Thing, For So Many Reasons

I am so proud to be a part of the YA community, and book Twitter in general. We're passionate about the books we read, and the authors who write them. And we are, for the most part, a hugely supportive and accepting. Being so I'm sure has helped the wonderful authors who have recently come to announce to the world who they really are.

Very recently, and over the past year or so, we have seen authors come out on Twitter and elsewhere online:

• YA author Juno Dawson, formerly James Dawson, came out as transgender back in October 2015. 
• For Queer Romance Month, to talk about his own gender identity, NA (and soon to be YA author!) author Elliot Wake, formerly Leah Raeder, wrote Why I Wrote Cam Girl, then on 1st January, came out as transgender.
• YA author Chelsea M. Cameron also chose the beginning of the year to come out.
• And Ashley Herring Blake, whose debut YA novel Suffer Love is published this year, came out as bisexual last year.

You might think, why is this any of our business? Well, for trans authors, we need to know their change of name in order for fans to buy their future books which will be written under their real name. But otherwise, surely it isn't really something we need to know, like with an author's sexuality, right?

Not necessarily. Of course, it is always down to the author to choose whether or not they disclose their identity/ies. But for those who do, they're doing something wonderful; not only are they saying to the world, "This is me, this is who I am," they're also showing their readers who might identify the same way that they are not alone.

We live in a world that isn't as tolerant and accepting as it can be. You hear stories, you read books, about how awful can be to those who are "different", of the danger these people face by being open about who they are. It must be a scary experience for LGBTQ+ teens to tell their family and friends who they are. But then they see the authors they love publicly announcing who they are, standing proud and embracing their true selves. How inspiring must that be? These authors aren't friends of mine, they aren't people I know, but I am so proud and grateful to these people to putting something so personal out there, and so inspired by their courage, though I myself am a straight cis-gender woman.

But there are also the fact that these authors write #ownvoices novels, or may write them in the future, and that is so hugely important. With marginalised groups being so underrepresented in fiction in general, #ownvoices representation is so dearly needed, so people can find accurate representation of themselves in the books they read. That's the most important aspect of #ownvoices, but also those of us who don't identify as the authors do can learn and understand more what it is to be, for example for this post, someone who identifies as lesbian, bisexual, transgender from someone who actually knows.

So it's so wonderful when our authors are forthcoming with their identities, because they can make such a huge difference to someone's life. And for those people, I'm hugely thankful to these incredible authors for being so honest and awesome. Thank you.

Review: Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition by Katie Rain Hill

Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition by Katie Rain Hill (reading copy) - In her unique, generous, and affecting voice, nineteen-year-old Katie Hill shares her personal journey of undergoing gender reassignment.

Have you ever worried that you'd never be able to live up to your parents' expectations? Have you ever imagined that life would be better if you were just invisible? Have you ever thought you would do anything--anything--to make the teasing stop? Katie Hill had and it nearly tore her apart.

Katie never felt comfortable in her own skin. She realized very young that a serious mistake had been made; she was a girl who had been born in the body of a boy. Suffocating under her peers' bullying and the mounting pressure to be "normal," Katie tried to take her life at the age of eight years old. After several other failed attempts, she finally understood that "Katie"--the girl trapped within her--was determined to live.

In this first-person account, Katie reflects on her pain-filled childhood and the events leading up to the life-changing decision to undergo gender reassignment as a teenager. She reveals the unique challenges she faced while unlearning how to be a boy and shares what it was like to navigate the dating world and experience heartbreak for the first time in a body that matched her gender identity. Told in an unwaveringly honest voice, Rethinking Normal is a coming-of-age story about transcending physical appearances and redefining the parameters of "normalcy" to embody one's true self. From Goodreads.

I'm pretty lucky to have had the opportunity to read this book. As you may know, I am a children's bookseller. Simon and Schuster Children's Books contacted my head of department about two memoirs written by two transgender authors that were published by S&S in the US that they were thinking of publishing. They were going to send her a copy of each, to get an idea of what a children bookseller thought of them, and because she knows how much I enjoy and promote LGBTQ YA, she thought I might want to read them and get back to S&S with my thoughts.

The first of the two is the fantastic Rethinking Normal: A Memoir in Transition, in which Katie Rain Hill tells the story of her life as a transgender teenager. Hill wrote this book at 19, and tell us about when she was a child, realising that her body didn't match up with how she felt inside and the depression and bullying she suffered, to coming out to her mother as a teenager and her path of transitioning to the young woman she is today. We also learn of the LGBT support groups that helped her, how through them she herself became a LGBT advocate which led to some time in the media spotlight along with her then boyfriend - who is also trans - Arin.

Hill's story is a moving one. She didn't have a very happy childhood. The first few years of her life weren't so bad, but once she realised that she was a girl and not a boy, she fell into misery that became depression. She went to various doctors and therapists, and was prescribed a number of antidepressants, but nothing really worked. She tried explaining things to her mum, but she didn't really understand what was wrong with her. At first she thought she was gay, because she was attracted to boys, but even that didn't feel right to her. Her mum, at the time, told her everything would be ok, but would ignore the situation afterwards. On top of that, Hill was very badly bullied for her femininity. Things got so bad for Hill that at eight-years-old, she attempted to take her own life. Reading that was so unbelievably sad, seeing a child so unhappy, so confused, she thought it would be better to die. But things were going to change for Hill. Time after time of Googling, trying to find out what was wrong with her, she finally came across an article about a transgender teenager, and things finally clicked into place. She wasn't alone. There wasn't anything wrong with her. She was transgender.

I don't want to talk too much about what Hill recounts in the book, because this is definitely a book you should read for yourself. What I loved about this book is how accessible Hill makes it. As a reader of a lot of LGBTQ YA, I feel I've got a pretty good grip on transgenderism for the most part, but it was still really eye-opening to read the actual story of a real transgender person. I think the closest I have got otherwise is reading middle grade novel George by Alex Gino, the only novel I've read so far written by a transgender author who know exactly what being transgender as a child is like. But it was wonderful - and incredibly inspiring - to read Hill's own real story. Hill writes with such honesty, but also with an openness; it doesn't feel just like Hill is writing about her story because more people should learn about transgenderism, but also because she's happy to talk about her life. There's a lightness to her writing, that even when recounting the darkest of times, you can feel how happy she is in her skin now - that she got through it to become this remarkably strong, intelligent, and brave young woman.

I believe this is the first memoir I have read, and this played it's part in my enjoyment of the book. This isn't a story, it's Hill's account of her life so far and her path to transition. But I felt we were told a lot that I would like to have actually seen on the page. But this is a book of recounting events, not following along a narrative in a novel. Although we hear about the various significant events of Hill's life in detail, we're told about these situations, rather than "witnessing" them as we would in a novel. I think what made it difficult for me was having 19-year-old Hill talking about, for example, the suicide attempt when she was eight; it was an older voice talking about the feelings of a child, rather than the voice of a child that we might get through a novel. It's a small thing, but kept me from emotionally connecting to Hill's story as much as I wanted to. As I've already said, it was very sad, and difficult to read, but I as upset by it as I imagined I'd be before reading. But this is a personal style preference, and not a criticism of the book.

I also had some tiny issues with Rethinking Normal. It feels like it's written with a subtle agenda, which of itself is understandable; Hill wants to promote understanding and acceptance of transgender people while telling her story. But it felt slightly forceful to me. I do think there is a difference between reading a book and learning from it, and having a book set out to teach you something. However, as I said, this is quite subtle, so I was able to get past it to read the whole book, but it did niggle at me.

Overall, Rethinking Normal is an amazing story, and one I highly recommend. I'm really looking forward to reading the second memoir I have, Some Assembly Required, by Hill's friend and ex-boyfriend, Arin Andrews.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the reading copy.



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Published: 29th September 2015
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Katie Rain Hill on Twitter

Review: George by Alex Gino

George by Alex Gino (proof) - When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl.

George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her (4th grade) teacher announces their class play is going to be "Charlotte's Web." George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part ...because she's a boy.

With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte - but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all. From Goodreads.

My head of department at work knows how much I love reading LGBTQ YA, so after she had a meeting with a rep from Scholastic where she heard about George by Alex Gino, she told me about it. It sounded amazing, so as soon as she had read the bookseller proof she was provided, she lent it to me. And oh my god, this book is so good!

Ten-year-old George has always known she is a girl, despite the fact that she has a boy's body. She knows there are other people like her from using the internet, but she just doesn't know how to broach the subject with anyone. Her class are reading Charlotte's Web, and George really loves it, especially Charlotte, so when it comes to auditioning for a part in the school's production of the book, she knows she has to be Charlotte. But Ms. Udell, her teacher, tells her that she can't be Charlotte because she's a boy. With George getting increasingly more upset with being treated as the boy she isn't, her best friend Kelly comes up with a brilliant idea, an idea that will change everything.

I can't even begin to tell you how amazing this book is. I'm not one for young fiction, I tend to find it's much too young for me to enjoy, but George is such an incredible story! I've read a few YA stories with transgender characters, and George doesn't really cover anything new, but it's written so beautifully, and does something those other books don't - George introduces LGBTQ characters to younger readers.

Let's take a moment to think about just what a big deal that is. When we think of YA, the intended audience is around 12+. YA misses those younger children who aren't ready for YA reading levels or some mature themes they cover. So those younger children don't really get those LGBTQ stories - except maybe when they were younger and read some picture books with same sex parents, which are, of course, important, but there's still this massive gap. And now we have George, a book for children around the same age as the title character, helping those who are cis-gendered understand what it means to be transgender, showing those who are transgender that they're not alone, that there are others out there like them, and that things can change. They see themselves represented in the fiction they're reading, and I cannot stress how important that is, nor how emotional with joy it makes me. Also, I think it's important to point out that if children are taught at a young age about many different things, including about LGBTQ lives, it will encourage understanding and acceptance as they grow and mature, creating a much more accepting world with the next few generations.

Back to the story. This is the first book about transgender characters I've read that's told in third person, and the whole way through Gino uses female pronouns for George. Normally, the books I read are generally told in first person, and I use the correct pronouns for the characters' gender identities in my reviews. But it's great to actually see "she" and "her" used in relation to George like this - of course they would be as the story is from George's point of view, it was just wonderful to see.

George is such a sweet girl, and oh my god, I wanted to give her a hug so much! She tries so hard, but she just isn't a boy. It hurts her so much whenever she's called a "young man" or "my little boy", but whenever she tries to talk about it, the words just won't come out. It's heartbreaking to read about this generally, but to read about it happening to a child! I just can't even begin to tell you how emotional it is.

But she has an incredible friend in Kelly. When George finally tells Kelly about the real her, it takes her a while to get used to the idea, because it's a bit of a shock, but once she does, she is all about treating George like the girl she is. She keeps it quiet when necessary, but when it's just the two of them, George is as much of a girl to Kelly as she is, and her acceptance is so beautiful! But even before she's told, Kelly is completely supportive in George wanting to try out for the part of Charlotte in the play. I just love her!

What was more difficult to stomach were the reactions from Ms. Udell and George's mum. Ms. Udell isn't pleased when George auditions for the part of Charlotte, and thinks it's a joke. Of course she can't play Charlotte, especially when there are so many girls who already want the part! She offers George the chance to audition to play one of the male characters, but completely dismisses the idea that George can play Charlotte, or really any female character. Let's put aside that George is trans for just one moment, because even if she wasn't, I think this is just so wrong! George is ten-years-old, she's a child still, and yes, it's school, but a production is still a part of play, and children should be allowed to play, and not have gender-roles forced onto them! Oh my god, this wound me up! I can't tell how angry this makes me. But this book is about George, and all she wanted was for a chance to show who she really was; if she got to play Charlotte, maybe people would see she was a girl! But that opportunity has been taken away from her, and it's so upsetting.

Then we have George's mum. When she discovers certain secrets George has been hiding, she talks about how George dressing up in her clothes used to be cute when she was a toddler, but it isn't now,  and when George tries to broach the subject of her being a girl, she doesn't want to talk about it right now. And it's not just dismissive, it's annoyed, like her "son" is purposefully misbehaving and being naughty, rather than trying to have a serious conversation with her mother. Her mum isn't like this the whole way through the book, but it happens enough to really wind me up. There's no effort to understand and listen for a fair while, and it bugs me so much. If anything, this book is teaching me about the kind of parent I want to be when I am one, so I suppose George's mum's behaviour works; if parents read this and change their thinking when it comes to how they may react to any serious conversation with their child, then it can only be a good thing.

The ending of this book is far too beautiful for words. It's completely uplifting, and so emotional! It brought tears to my eyes! I'm not going to go into the specifics, because the beautiful wonderful things that happen not just in the story, but in the writing, are things to be discovered and felt by you as you read. But it's so completely wonderful!

George is undeniably one of the most incredible LGBTQ books I've read, and maybe one of the most important. Every child should have a copy of this book, every school library should stock it, and every parent should read it with their child. I know once it's published, I'll be buying myself a copy, and a copy for best friend's baby. It will be waiting for her for when she's old enough to read this beautiful, powerful, uplifting story.

Thank you to Scholastic for the bookseller proof.



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Published: 25th August 2015
Publisher: Scholastic
Alex Gino's Website

Movie Review: Boy Meets Girl

Boy Meets Girl - Boy Meets Girl is a funny, tender, sex positive romantic comedy that explores what it means to be a real man or woman, and how important it is to live a courageous life not letting fear stand in the way of going after your dreams. From IMDB.com

As you all know, Once Upon a Bookcase is a book blog. I only review movies when their book-to-movie adaptations. Boy Meets Girl, brought to my attention by Jim of YA Yeah Yeah, is not an adaptation, but a hugely important LGBTQ coming-of-age film, there's no way I could not review it. You all need to see this movie!

Ricky, an out, pre-op transgender woman, hasn't been so lucky in love. Living in a small town in Kentucky, there are only so many available men, and so decides to see if she could date a woman, with the encouragement of longtime best friend, Robby. When Ricky meets Francesca at the coffee shop she works in, there is an undeniable attraction between the two, despite Francesca being engaged to her Marine fiancé. But there also seems to be something bubbling under the surface between Ricky and Robby. But with experimentation and developing feelings, someone is going to get hurt.

Boy Meets Girl is very honest, and so fantastic with it's openness. It starts transgender actress Michelle Hendley in her debut role, and she nails it. Boy Meets Girl is not just a coming-of-age and love story about a transgender woman, but a story that answers so many questions the audience may have about what it means to be transgender, and also is hilariously funny!

Boy Meets Girl is extremely sex positive, with Ricky experimenting with her sexuality and her open conversations about sex with Ricky - some of the most hilarious moments of the movie. I laughed out loud when Ricky, having never slept with a girl before, was asking Robby, played by the wonderful Michael Welch, what it was like - on the off chance it happened. I don't think there's anyone who can watch that part of the movie and not laugh at Ricky's bold, out-of-the-blue questions, and Robby's squirming, as well as his descriptions. Later, a conversation about what is gay, lesbian or straight sex between the two was not only amusing, but also thought-provoking. Honestly, Welch and Hendley were fantastic together throughout the whole movie, their relationship completely believable. Welch, who is probably best known for his role a Mike in the Twilight movies, shows again just why I'm such a huge fan of him as an actor - this guy is just brilliant, and he held my focus whenever he was on screen. And no, that's not just because he is so very easy on the eye. (Though for those of you who agree with me, there is a really awesome swimming scene. Yup. But that's not important.)

Francesca, played by Alexandra Turshen, is also a really fantastic character. Recently new-ish to town, she doesn't know about Ricky being transgender. But when she is told, she is wonderful. She is initially curious, asking some questions that are completely ridiculous, but for someone who has very little knowledge and understanding, I guess quite normal - but she is completely accepting from the get-go. And speaking of, it's brilliant to see Ricky's confidence with talking about her being transgender and answering Francesca's questions without a problem.

Francesca becomes Ricky's most ardent defender when Ricky comes under fire. Ricky is on the receiving end of transphobic and homophobic slurs, though mostly behind her back. They're the disgusting, heinous, obvious terms coming from the ignorant and pathetic. And yet, there's even a learning curve there. But Francesca coming to Ricky's defence in such a big way, oh my god, she's amazing! Seeing her being someone who doesn't really understand to being someone who is fiercely standing by her friend, it's beautiful! There is a wonderful moment when, during their experimentation with each other, Francesca asks Ricky if this makes her gay, or bi-curious, insisting she must be something, to which Ricky replies, "Human?" I just loved that!

Boy Meets Girl really is an incredible movie. It's a sweet and gorgeous romance, it's a hilarious comedy, it's thought-provoking, inclusive and sex-positive, but it's ultimately a powerfully uplifting story about a transgender woman finding her way - and what a fantastic ending! Boy Meets Boy is a bold and brave movie, and it's incredible. As I said at the beginning, you all need to see this movie!


Released: 6th February 2015
Boy Meets Girl Website
Director/Writer: Eric Schaeffer
Starring: Michelle Hendley, Michael Welch, and Alexandra Turshen