About a third of the MS has been engaged in a book club with me centered around the novel George    by Alex Gino. This book tells the brave story of a transgender 4th grader and her experience navigating her own realization, as well as her friends’ and parents’, that she is trans. For the past 2 months, we have meet weekly to read and discuss the book. Last Friday, upon the conclusion of the novel, we read an interview with the author, who shared their own perspective on being trans. We also watched two short video clips.

The first, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0v_idyvjco is a powerful video made by a trans teen, and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WA5n9YW4MVk, a second video which is an interview with Jazz Jennings, a transgender teen who has been an advocate for the right for trans students to use school restrooms of their choosing. After each video, the students engaged in a discussion with me and had the opportunity to ask questions and share their thoughts. We also decided to visit the restrooms so that the boys could see the girls’ and vice-versa. In both instances, I entered the bathroom with the students who wanted to take a look.

Throughout the reading and discussion of George, we have talked at length about the importance of inclusion and tolerance. I was impressed by the insight and compassion demonstrated by the participants in my book club. Some of the students were initially confused by the distinctions among the different LGBTQ identities.  It is my hope that this is only the beginning of a dialogue that will continue about diversity and acceptance.

Our next literary share will be Ali Benjamin’s critically acclaimed novel, The Thing about Jellyfish. This novel won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, as well as the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Middle Grade Literature.

Happy Reading!

Jilly Lederman