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 teacher announces that 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.
George stopped. It was such a short, little question, but she couldn’t make her mouth form the sounds.
Mom, what if I’m a girl?
I’ve actually been planning to read George for a long time. I think I added it to my TBR during Banned Books Week two years ago. (Clearly, I didn’t get around to it.) January’s Monthly Motif was diversity, so I planned to read it then too. (Clearly, I didn’t get around to it then either.) I saw it was available at my library a couple weeks ago and checked it out and I’m so glad that I did!
There’s a lot to love about this book. I love that it’s written in a way that’s so simple and so easy to understand. For the reader, there’s never any confusion about whether George is a boy or a girl. And when other characters mistakenly refer to George as a boy, it’s so clear that makes her sad. It’s an important lesson for kids (or anyone, really) about how seemingly small things can really make a difference in the way we make people feel.
There’s also a great lesson on acceptance in this book. There are certainly a lot of characters, both children and adults, who make fun of George or don’t understand her. But I don’t think it’s a spoiler to mention that, at the end of the book, the people in George’s life accept her for who she is. After all, this is a middle-grade book. It has to have a happy ending.
Overall, this was a great book with a really simple yet powerful lesson. I would highly recommend it to just about anyone.
Have you read George? Do you know of any similar books?
Let’s talk in the comments!
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The Bibliophagist 
This book sounds like such a powerful book to teach kids empathy. Didn’t realize it was a banned book but that unfortunately makes sense. Glad to hear you enjoyed it and will bump it up higher on my TBR list 🙂
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I hope you’ll like it as much as I did! 😊
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I loved this book too, great review! I had no idea it was banned though 😦
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Thank you and I’m glad you liked it too! I’m not sure if it was banned or just frequently challenged, but yeah, it’s so disappointing that such a well-written and important book like this would be controversial. 😦
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I completely agree with you, such a shame. But this is a brilliant and much-needed book, needs to reach as many people as possible 🙂
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Yes, I totally agree ❤
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Sounds like an awesome book! Great review!
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It was! Thank you! ❤
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I read this book a while back and thought it was great. Thanks for reminding me how good it is.
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I’m glad you liked it too! 🙂
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I don’t really read juvenile fiction books anymore (I still read YA though,) but I might make an exception for this book because I’ve really heard nothing but good things about it and I’m interested how a children’s book would handle the transgendered issue. Unfortunately it’s been checked out from my local library the last few times I’ve gone there, but when I finally get the chance to read it maybe I can get my 14-year-old sister to read it too. It would be cool to have a book we’ve both read we can discuss. Great review! 🙂
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Thank you! I don’t read much juvenile fiction either, but this one was so good! (And so important.) I think it would be great for you and your sister to read it! 😊
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