What stands out for me is the way students connect with Melissa (the main character of my book, who most people know as George.) Often, adults tell me that they feel they understand transgender people better after reading my book. When you do an author visit with students, what stands out for you about their reaction to reading the novel?
Now that I’m back to reading kids’ books, I’m fine. It turns out that I just find grown-up fiction long and boring. In fact, for a long time, I thought I had lost my love of reading. And I’ve always loved children’s literature. It’s written in the close third-person, with a linear narrative structure, a best friend and a bully, and a school play. In a lot of ways, George is a very traditional story, and in that way, it feels familiar, even if the reader hasn’t ever thought about trans issues before. It’s a book that I hope people connect with. Like a lot of marginalized writers, I wrote the book I wish I had read. And I think about who I would be now if I had experienced positive representations of transness in the world as a kid. When I was figuring out who I was in college, books were an invaluable resource for me.
You can learn more about Alex and their novel, George, here. Last year, Alex was a participating author in the LGBTQ Writers in Schools program and is returning again this year as our kick-off author. I recently asked Alex Gino a few questions about their middle-grade transgender novel, George (Scholastic). Alex Gino on Writing Trans Middle-Grade Fiction
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