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penofpossibilities's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Sexism
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, Transphobia, and Outing
Minor: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Death of parent
emotional abuse from parents towards their children and general shittinessanjh's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Transphobia, Violence, and Medical content
random_being's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Transphobia, and Outing
Moderate: Bullying, Hate crime, and Homophobia
c_dmckinney's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
That said this book was absolutely beautiful and I wish everyone with queer young people in their lives would read it. Honestly I would recommend it to everyone, maybe especially people who don't have (or don't think they have any) genderqueer people in their lives.
I found the author's exploration of understanding one's gender and gender roles very considerate and sincere. It was raw and tender and not too neat. It was compassionate to a perspective that I have never previously seen explored well at all much less in middle grade fiction.
This was a very sweet young romance set in the backdrop of the trials and tribulations of middle school where identity and fitting in is perhaps the hardest in any young person's life.
Also this is somewhat unrelated but I can tell the author spends A LOT of time in various online communities. There's a lot of language that is definitely not used offline. I found it terribly endearing, but that is because I also use online lingo offline sometimes.
Graphic: Animal death, Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Transphobia, Outing, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Deadnaming, Death, Misogyny, Dementia, and Injury/Injury detail
alexutzu's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
The novel had also some relevant and informative takes on parenting and self-development, which made me feel like it would be more interesting for young adults rather than for kids. I also felt that the art elements scattered throughout the book made the reading experience more immersive.
Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, and Transphobia
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Excrement, and Outing
blackberryjambaby's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Graphic: Bullying, Hate crime, Misogyny, Sexism, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Outing, Abandonment, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, and Animal death
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders and Classism
autumnruth's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Bullying, Transphobia, and Outing
citrus_seasalt's review against another edition
4.0
I wish so badly I got to have this book as a middle schooler!! Ash connected with me so deeply. Like them, I was openly genderfluid in middle school, it took me very long to feel comfortable with the label “trans” because I wasn’t sure if that was actually me if I still felt comfortable being feminine part-time(spoilers: I use “trans” and “nonbinary” labels in the present day!), we both went through our own crisis of experiencing gender differently depending on the day but not being a label such as bi or pan so…how on earth would we address ourselves, and also, both of us perceive sound in a funky way!! (Ash clearly has synesthesia, I have no clue if I do, but sometimes I’ll be hit with colors mid-song, or flavor mid-feeling). Although I was a bit turned off by how long it took for Ash to not fit their different switches and forms of expression into different gender roles, half of that was justified by the attitudes towards their gender they’ve been shown(not saying it was right, there’s just a narrative reason for it), and thankfully, that was resolved by the end.
I also really enjoyed the character development! Ash and Daniel both mature as the story progresses, which is evident in the evolution of how they understand themselves, and how they can move on from their past. (With Ash, it’s their trauma, with Daniel, it’s taking responsibility.) I especially loved how Daniel’s emotional vulnerability/intelligence was handled, he sends a good message towards the readers of this book: recognize your emotions and feel them without ridicule, but don’t only consider your own feelings when others are involved. In the plot department, there’s not much going on, but Chewbarka was a good character to bring them together, and was very endearing, too.
My only other gripes with this story are that I felt pretty dysphoric reading Daniel’s POV for most of the book, he (unintentionally) frequently misgenders Ash as they try to make themselves more girly for him and it’s painful to read. I was scared for his reaction for when Ash came out, and thought I had some of that fear justified but I’m glad that his disappointment and anger didn’t come from Ash being genderfluid(..mostly), but from them hiding an important part of themself from him. For a middle grade, ”Both Can Be True” has a lot of heavy subject matter, which isn’t a problem but might make it harder to digest for its target demographic.
Graphic: Bullying and Deadnaming
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Homophobia, and Transphobia
Minor: Infidelity
february_friday's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I knew this was a book for me, a queer coming of age with no plot except for a dog named chewbarka. It was great, and I only cried twice, which is unprecedented. I loved how the conflict was resolved by something really simple called communication that is not often represented in books.
The only think I maybe didn't like was that the end felt a little rushed.
It also felt more YA than middle grade, considering that the characters were in fact teenagers and it dealt with a lot of hard topics surrounding transphobia in a more explicit manner. It didn't ruin my experience at all but sometimes it just makes me mad that publishing only considers YA the books that have main characters over 15 years old even though a lot of the people that read YA are tweens and early teenagers??
Graphic: Bullying and Transphobia
Moderate: Infidelity and Grief
james1star's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Bullying and Transphobia
Minor: Animal death, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, and Dysphoria