Collection
Publication
Yearling (2018), Edition: Dgs, 352 pages
Description
"Lily Jo McGrother, born Timothy McGrother, is a girl. But being a girl is not so easy when you look like a boy. Especially when you're in the eighth-grade. Norbert Dorfman, nicknamed Dunkin Dorfman, is bipolar and has just moved from the New Jersey town he's called home for the past thirteen years. This would be hard enough, but the fact that he is also hiding from a painful secret makes it even worse. One summer morning, Lily Jo McGrother meets Dunkin Dorfman, and their lives forever change"--
User reviews
LibraryThing member Brainannex
This book is perfect for young book groups who want a lot to discuss. Lily is transgender while Dunkin struggles with bipolar disorder. Both of them make imperfect choices and have to find their own way. Happily, it doesn't feel like an "issue" book, it feels like two kids trying to figure out the
Show More
world. Show Less
LibraryThing member acargile
Gephart usually writes comedy; but, in this novel, she writes about two challenging topics: transgender and bipolar disorder. This is a novel about accepting not only one’s own identity but other’s identity without judgement. It’s about understanding and loving each other.
The novel alternates
Norbert really likes Tim because he’s nice, but Norbert really needs to fit in and have friends because he has never had friends, except Phin and Phin didn’t move with them. Norbert and his mom have moved in with his grandmother who is an exercises guru. His father can’t be there, which makes his mother cry a lot. He keeps his secrets, but we know he’s battling bipolar disorder. If he takes his medicine, he can function in society. In his desire to make the basketball team, he chooses to not take his meds in order to get more energy and focus. He wants to help Tim against the basketball bullies, but he can’t even help himself.
This novel is very sweet and has a great message about accepting people for who they are and about understanding and helping others. It’s almost too perfect. Everyone is great except the stereotypical bullies, but even they bring about sympathy because their own lives have given them their meanness. The stories are compelling and well-written as well. It’s just covers a lot of topics. We have a transgender character and a bipolar character who both come from great, almost perfect families. Don’t get me wrong. I like that the families are supportive and loving because I get tired of dysfunctional parents in YA novels. The novel is definitely worth your time, especially if you have transgender friends or deal with people who have bipolar disorder. The author’s son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so the information is accurate and will make you walk in his shoes. The ending touches on another challenging topic for some that won’t come as much of a surprise. It’s a good novel even though it tries to do an awful lot.
The novel alternates
Show More
between Lily and Dunkin. Lily, born Timothy, has always felt like a girl. Her family and best friend are supportive and have no qualms about him being her for the first day of eighth grade. Lily’s father, however, will not allow Tim to be herself. He’ll be made fun of and possibly injured by prejudiced bullies. Dunkin, whose real name is Norbert, has just arrived in town and sees a pretty girl in a dress. Maybe this town won’t be so bad. The pretty girl turns out to be Tim, a boy. Lily can’t tell this stranger she’s a girl, so she lies and says he was dressed like a girl because he was dared. As Lily’s story progresses, she takes small steps to becoming who she truly is. These steps are small because she has to wait for her father to accept her. Norbert really likes Tim because he’s nice, but Norbert really needs to fit in and have friends because he has never had friends, except Phin and Phin didn’t move with them. Norbert and his mom have moved in with his grandmother who is an exercises guru. His father can’t be there, which makes his mother cry a lot. He keeps his secrets, but we know he’s battling bipolar disorder. If he takes his medicine, he can function in society. In his desire to make the basketball team, he chooses to not take his meds in order to get more energy and focus. He wants to help Tim against the basketball bullies, but he can’t even help himself.
This novel is very sweet and has a great message about accepting people for who they are and about understanding and helping others. It’s almost too perfect. Everyone is great except the stereotypical bullies, but even they bring about sympathy because their own lives have given them their meanness. The stories are compelling and well-written as well. It’s just covers a lot of topics. We have a transgender character and a bipolar character who both come from great, almost perfect families. Don’t get me wrong. I like that the families are supportive and loving because I get tired of dysfunctional parents in YA novels. The novel is definitely worth your time, especially if you have transgender friends or deal with people who have bipolar disorder. The author’s son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so the information is accurate and will make you walk in his shoes. The ending touches on another challenging topic for some that won’t come as much of a surprise. It’s a good novel even though it tries to do an awful lot.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lilibrarian
Dunkin moves to Florida with his mother. The first person he meets is a nice guy named Tim, who is wearing a dress. Then he is recruited for the basketball team by a bunch of guys who don't like Tim. Making his decision, he also decides to stop taking his medication so he can play basketball better.
LibraryThing member sylliu
A beautifully written story about two teens grappling with difficult issues. Lily is a transgender teen about to start eighth grade, about to come out to her peers as a girl with a father who can't understand or support her (but with a supportive mother, sister, and best friend). Dunkin is a new
Show More
kid in town, suffering from bipolar disorder, who tries to hide his condition while seeking popularity with the basketball crowd. Lily and Dunkin form a tenuous friendship that slowly grows into a solid relationship as they navigate bullying and their need for acceptance. Their stories are sensitively and satisfyingly told. Show Less
LibraryThing member ewyatt
Lily was born Tim and is working hard to understand herself and get her family on board too. She wants hormone blockers, she wants to be brave enough to be herself in 8th grade. But it is hard, dealing with her less than accepting dad and the Neanderthal basketball players at school. New kid
Show More
Norbert is dealing with his own problems in Florida. He's on medication that he has stopped taking. He is hiding a big secret, even from himself. Told in alternating voices, Lily and Dunkin try to muddle through a difficult year and realize that their connection just might help them both. Show Less
LibraryThing member Robinsonstef
I really enjoyed the alternating narrations from Lily and Dunkin. Dunkin is in a new town and he misses and worries about his dad. Lily is wanting to be who she is, but her fears keep her going to school as Tim. When she is presenting herself as Tim, she meets Dunkin and they start a friendship
I liked and cared about the characters. The struggles the kids faced were very real and I thought Dunkin's dilema with wanting to be poplar and wanting to do the right thing were things that people could relate to. A book that will help people have a better understanding of what other people are going through.
Show More
during the last week before school starts. Then Dunkin starts school and for the first time in his life the popular kids want to be his friend. This means he can't talk to Tim. Tim gets made fun of by the popular kids. But Dunkin soon determines that to stay popular and play basketball he must stop taking all of his medicines because they are just slowing him down. Not taking his meds for bipolar disorder is very dangerous, but he thinks he can handle it.I liked and cared about the characters. The struggles the kids faced were very real and I thought Dunkin's dilema with wanting to be poplar and wanting to do the right thing were things that people could relate to. A book that will help people have a better understanding of what other people are going through.
Show Less
LibraryThing member SamMusher
I found this a little clunky and problem novel-y in places. There aren't that many middle grade-appropriate books about trans kids yet, but they are all starting to sound the same. Each kid speaks about their gender in the same way ("I always knew I was really a girl/boy on the inside"), and
I found Dunkin's story much more compelling than Lily's. His struggles with mental illness felt more specific and touching, and I don't think I've ever read a book about a middle schooler with bipolar disorder. We definitely need more stories that explore that internal landscape. In the author's note, Gephart writes that Dunkin's story came from her personal experiences, whereas Lily's she had to research as an outsider. Not that authors always have to "write what they know," of course, but in this case I think the discrepancy shows.
Note: if you're booktalking this, I think p. 94 would make a fun read-aloud.
Show More
they're all about white kids in generic suburbs with fairly generic interests. My genderqueer students don't necessarily speak about gender in that sort of binary -- gender, to much of "Generation Z" (ugh, really, demographers?), has quickly become a fluid spectrum. I'd like to see that more subtlely addressed in a book.I found Dunkin's story much more compelling than Lily's. His struggles with mental illness felt more specific and touching, and I don't think I've ever read a book about a middle schooler with bipolar disorder. We definitely need more stories that explore that internal landscape. In the author's note, Gephart writes that Dunkin's story came from her personal experiences, whereas Lily's she had to research as an outsider. Not that authors always have to "write what they know," of course, but in this case I think the discrepancy shows.
Note: if you're booktalking this, I think p. 94 would make a fun read-aloud.
Show Less
LibraryThing member fingerpost
Lily and Dunkin is told in alternating first person viewpoints from the two protagonists. Lily is a transgender girl, who is having a difficult time getting support from her Dad, and getting the courage to come out as a girl at school, where she is already the victim of bullying. Dunkin is a boy
I thought the separation of the stories was a bit of a weakness, but the greater weakness for me was that Dunkin was just too big of a jerk. Bipolar disorder aside, he keeps sticking with the school *ssh*l*s instead of even attempting to do the right thing. (Until the end of the book, when of course he learns his lesson, but it took so long getting there it was completely unbelievable. Also unbelievable that Lily would want anything to do with him after all the times Dunkin treated her like crap.)
I enjoyed Lily's story, and found her a sympathetic character. I might have felt the same way about Dunkin's story, if he just didn't treat Lily so badly and actually want to be with people he knew were horrid, just to be "popular." As a side note, 8th grade characters kept telling 3rd grade jokes, which was bad enough, but then they'd usually say, "Get it?" and explain the third grade joke, in case the reader was too dense to get it. Ugh.
Show More
with serious bipolar disorder, who starts to skip doses of his meds so he can keep up on the basketball court. The two meet in the first few chapters of the book... but largely this reads as two separate stories. There is minimal interaction between Lily and Dunkin during the bulk of the book. This is in part because Dunkin treats Lily like crap so he will be accepted by the "popular" school bullies, who are all on the basketball team. I thought the separation of the stories was a bit of a weakness, but the greater weakness for me was that Dunkin was just too big of a jerk. Bipolar disorder aside, he keeps sticking with the school *ssh*l*s instead of even attempting to do the right thing. (Until the end of the book, when of course he learns his lesson, but it took so long getting there it was completely unbelievable. Also unbelievable that Lily would want anything to do with him after all the times Dunkin treated her like crap.)
I enjoyed Lily's story, and found her a sympathetic character. I might have felt the same way about Dunkin's story, if he just didn't treat Lily so badly and actually want to be with people he knew were horrid, just to be "popular." As a side note, 8th grade characters kept telling 3rd grade jokes, which was bad enough, but then they'd usually say, "Get it?" and explain the third grade joke, in case the reader was too dense to get it. Ugh.
Show Less
LibraryThing member reader1009
children's middlegrade/young adult fiction (5th grade and up?); trans girl and bipolar boy experience several trying times during 8th grade. For the first several chapters I was thinking, these kids are so cute, and nothing like the middle-schoolers I remember. Then along comes a group of jocks who
The characters are wonderfully charming and layered, and while the book dealt a lot with their issues and their self-acceptance, it was also about peer pressure, family relations, friendship, and standing up for what you believe in. A great story on all counts.
Show More
bully everyone, and yep, that's more like the middle-schoolers we know and recognize (sigh). Have some tissues handy, because it gets pretty serious in the middle and at the end. The characters are wonderfully charming and layered, and while the book dealt a lot with their issues and their self-acceptance, it was also about peer pressure, family relations, friendship, and standing up for what you believe in. A great story on all counts.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jennybeast
I really enjoyed this book -- I found it very moving and intensely readable. I also have been actively looking for elementary-middle grade books with transgender characters that appeal to kids, and one of the things I really enjoyed about this book is that it is relatively fast paced, and there's
I also appreciate reading a book about a character with a serious mental illness, and the positive representation of psychiatric professionals throughout the book. I loved how Gephart managed to portray all the different tensions that are part of daily life -- family tension vs school tension, new friends and old friends and bullying and hormones and peer pressure... that seems like a very full picture of the whirl of middle school -- but while you could read a romantic element into it, that is clearly not the focus of the book. I think that's particularly sensitive and smart when it comes to two kids who are dealing with a ton of internal struggles, especially given how often American society conflates sex and gender.
I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that this is only tangentially an own voices book, and several reviewers mentioned how the extremity of Duncan's particular brand of illness might be more damaging than helpful, so that also causes me some reservations. I think it was compassionately written and difficult to put down. I hope we have many more books on these subjects that are own voices in the future, but I think this one is doing a stellar job filling the gap.
Show More
always something going on -- I read some of the other reviews, and that seemed not to work for everyone, but it really worked for me. I've read several books for this audience on this topic and while they are interesting books, they are very very internally focused. The plot is secondary to the character's inner struggles -- which makes for a very specific appeal. I also appreciate reading a book about a character with a serious mental illness, and the positive representation of psychiatric professionals throughout the book. I loved how Gephart managed to portray all the different tensions that are part of daily life -- family tension vs school tension, new friends and old friends and bullying and hormones and peer pressure... that seems like a very full picture of the whirl of middle school -- but while you could read a romantic element into it, that is clearly not the focus of the book. I think that's particularly sensitive and smart when it comes to two kids who are dealing with a ton of internal struggles, especially given how often American society conflates sex and gender.
I'm not sure how I feel about the fact that this is only tangentially an own voices book, and several reviewers mentioned how the extremity of Duncan's particular brand of illness might be more damaging than helpful, so that also causes me some reservations. I think it was compassionately written and difficult to put down. I hope we have many more books on these subjects that are own voices in the future, but I think this one is doing a stellar job filling the gap.
Show Less
LibraryThing member rgruberexcel
RGG: Good read, but it's a lot. Two youths, one coming out as transgender and one coping with manic depression and a parent who has committed suicide, have a rocky journey to friendship. There is also two lesbian friends and an effort to save a tree. All written for a middle grade audience.
LibraryThing member rgruberexcel
RGG: Good read, but it's a lot. Two youths, one coming out as transgender and one coping with manic depression and a parent who has committed suicide, have a rocky journey to friendship. There is also two lesbian friends and an effort to save a tree. All written for a middle grade audience.
LibraryThing member rgruberexcel
RGG: Good read, but it's a lot. Two youths, one coming out as transgender and one coping with manic depression and a parent who has committed suicide, have a rocky journey to friendship. There is also two lesbian friends and an effort to save a tree. All written for a middle grade audience.
LibraryThing member secondhandrose
Sweet story of two middle graders facing big life challenges.
LibraryThing member SJGirl
If you’re looking for a book that ignites emotion in you, this one opens in pretty much the perfect spot to do so, it had me immediately caring about Lily, and thinking about real world transgender kids, especially the ones who don’t have the best friend, the mom, and the sister that Lily has
Due to caring for Lily, it did take more time for me to warm up to Dunkin as some of his choices inadvertently hurt Lily, though in all fairness to Dunkin, there probably are few of us who could claim we always had the courage to have someone else’s back or to resist the lure of popularity (and when you see how the school bullies are with Lily, it’s easy enough to believe that a kid might get it into his head to join the popular basketball team rather than risk becoming a target). I did end up really, really liking Dunkin the deeper I got into knowing him and all he’s going through.
This book can be pretty hard on the heart, the bullying, Lily’s journey with her dad, Dunkin’s spiraling mental health and the big truth he’s yet to face, even the fate of a tree weighs heavy, all of those things got me emotionally, but if you’re up to absorbing the more difficult blows this story delivers, I promise it does reward you with moments here and there where things feel much better.
Show More
in her corner (I loved her grandpop, too, even if technically he’s not in the story).Due to caring for Lily, it did take more time for me to warm up to Dunkin as some of his choices inadvertently hurt Lily, though in all fairness to Dunkin, there probably are few of us who could claim we always had the courage to have someone else’s back or to resist the lure of popularity (and when you see how the school bullies are with Lily, it’s easy enough to believe that a kid might get it into his head to join the popular basketball team rather than risk becoming a target). I did end up really, really liking Dunkin the deeper I got into knowing him and all he’s going through.
This book can be pretty hard on the heart, the bullying, Lily’s journey with her dad, Dunkin’s spiraling mental health and the big truth he’s yet to face, even the fate of a tree weighs heavy, all of those things got me emotionally, but if you’re up to absorbing the more difficult blows this story delivers, I promise it does reward you with moments here and there where things feel much better.
Show Less
ISBN
055353677X / 9780553536775