Some Girls Bind

Starred review from March 1, 2019

Gr 7 Up-James proves the power of the novel in verse as a vehicle to convey rich characterization, complex themes, and a reading experience that levels the field between struggling and skilled readers. Jamie is keeping a secret, even from her BFF Lev and their wider circle of sensitive and supportive friends. Uncertain, at first, of what draws her to binding her breasts, Jamie confides in her brother Steve, then works toward understanding and accepting a nonbinary gender identification and comes out to Lev and eventually to their parents and friends. James's verse is fluid, and each chapter is a complete scene that builds Jamie's story with compelling insight and empathy. Jamie's friends each have their own issues, and Jamie is a sympathetic friend as well as a teen caught in the private drama of self-awareness that makes adolescence and identity construction frightening to so many. VERDICT Highly recommended for school and public libraries.-Francisca Goldsmith, Library Ronin, Worcester, MA

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 15, 2019
A genderqueer teen claims their identity and comes out to the people they love in this novel in verse for reluctant readers.Sixteen-year-old Jamie wears a too-tight vest to bind their chest beneath their baggy clothes. Neither "boy" nor "girl" feels right to them, but they worry about who they will become if they don't fit inside the binary. With the encouragement of their best friend, Levi--a Jewish, cisgender, gay teen--Jamie seeks out the language to describe themself and gains the courage to share who they are with family and friends. The title, which misgenders the main character, mischaracterizes this otherwise sensitive, free-verse exploration of gender identity. Finding representation and community plays an important role in Jamie's self-discovery. Their experience coming out to their older brother, Steve, and parents is refreshingly hopeful. Steve doesn't always use affirming language. When describing his transgender roommate, he says, "Charlie was born / as a female biologically, / but he identifies as male." However, he behaves as an advocate for Jamie with their parents and helps Jamie access a safer way to bind their chest. While Jamie has an overall positive experience with their family, James still acknowledges the challenges that come with living in a society that enforces a gender binary. Characters seem to follow a white default.A coming-out story full of love and affirmation that encourages identity exploration. (Verse novel. 12-18)

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February 15, 2019
Grades 9-12 Everyone has a secret in high school, Jamie's older brother claims, and she knows it's true, as each of her friends has one, which they gradually reveal?all but Jamie, who refuses to admit that she binds her chest and that she may really be a boy. But is she? In fact, she feels neither male nor female, realizing, finally, that she's genderqueer, a fact that she also keeps secret. But almost reluctantly she decides to drop a clue, announcing that she wants to use the gender neutral pronoun they. Then they come out to their friend Levi, who is gay and immediately supportive. Then it is their brother with whom they share their secret and then their friends. But they remain terrified of their parents' reaction if they tell them the truth. James' novel?in not altogether successful free verse?addresses the complex reality of being genderqueer without being overly didactic, while offering, in Jamie, a sympathetic character who realistically struggles to find their identity and share its reality.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)