The Truth Is

July 1, 2019
A coming-of-age novel about coming out and overcoming. Verdad De La Reyna is having a rough time. Her best friend, Blanca, died when a white supremacist shot up a movie theater. Verdad has a scar from where a bullet hit her leg and post-traumatic symptoms like trichotillomania, but she still finds comfort in Blanca's ghostly visits. Verdad, who doesn't speak Spanish, also doesn't feel completely confident in her Boricua identity. The arrival at school of attractive white trans boy Danny makes her wonder if she's lesbian, or queer, or some other LGBTQ+ identity. Strong insightful prose, sometimes disjointed, showcases Verdad's unique voice, not shying away from her pain or her stubbornness. A lot of her growing up has to do with the question "How could you be so woke and so 'sleep at the same time?" as a queer woman of color who has to work through transphobic thoughts, anti-black racism, and other prejudices, which may help some readers in their own understanding while alienating or hurting others. A diverse cast of homeless queer youth provides a lot of catalyst for her growth, which at times verges on exploitative, but young people underserved in literature will find fully fleshed, mostly positive--though somewhat tragic--representation here. Teen banter about racism, cultural appropriation, police brutality, and transphobia showcases the complexity, brilliance, and power of young activists. Shaky at times but powerful. (Fiction. 13-18)

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August 1, 2019

Gr 7 Up-Self-described Boricua Verdad, age 15, is a bundle of contradictions-sad and isolated since the murder of her best friend, Blanca, by a racist mass shooter; dryly funny when observing her classmates and family; and prone to blurting out pejorative terms just before or after lightbulb moments about the intersections of identity and privilege. In fact, Ramos has created a voice so authentic it may surprise readers used to teen characters sounding and acting like adults. The plot unfolds fast, with Verdad meeting and falling for sexy new student Danny (who is transmasculine) the same week she's involved in a poorly supervised classroom activity-turned-melee that results in the unfair expulsion of a Black classmate. Within days of realizing she may be queer, or questioning, or pansexual, Verdad leaves home, joining Danny and his culturally diverse band of friends, all queer and homeless. If this seems like a lot, it is, before even considering Verdad's burgeoning awareness of her OCD and PTSD or several sub-plots involving familial backstories. There are some well-realized and brief sex scenes, and flashbacks to the shooting are handled sensitively. Some aspects of the ending are a bit logistically neat, and not every character in the large cast feels fully realized. However, Ramos succeeds in portraying early adolescence in visceral emotional detail. VERDICT Ramos writes with intensity and poeticism in this fresh, painful, but ultimately optimistic coming-of-age novel. Notable for its up-to-the minute depiction of gender identity, sexual orientation, and race.-Miriam DesHarnais, Towson University, MD

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2019
Grades 9-12 Fifteen-year-old Verdad is done with friendships. After her best friend, Blanca, died in a mass shooting, she's decided to keep her head down and focus on school, not on making connections. But when Danny comes into her class, she can't help but notice him. As rumors swirl around his gender identity, Verdad begins to break her own rules about getting close and learns what can happen when you're true to yourself in the face of bigotry. Ramos (The Disturbed Girl's Dictionary, 2018) creates an #OwnVoices protagonist in Puerto Rican Verdad and weaves her many intense feelings together in a way that never feels forced, from Verdad dealing with PTSD after the shooting to falling in love to discovering and then defining her queer identity. Her voice, funny through the pain, carries what could have been an impossibly heavy story. A few plot points resolve a little too neatly, but it's nice to see teens who often face unending obstacles, in fiction and real life, get something close to a happy ending.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)