The Art of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson

The Art of Being Normal

By Lisa Williamson

  • Release Date: 2016-05-31
  • Genre: Fiction for Young Adults
Score: 4.5
4.5
From 37 Ratings

Description

An inspiring and timely debut novel from Lisa Williamson, The Art of Being Normal is about two transgender friends who figure out how to navigate teen life with help from each other.

David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he's gay. The school bully thinks he's a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth: David wants to be a girl.

On the first day at his new school Leo Denton has one goal: to be invisible. Attracting the attention of the most beautiful girl in his class is definitely not part of that plan. When Leo stands up for David in a fight, an unlikely friendship forms. But things are about to get messy. Because at Eden Park School secrets have a funny habit of not staying secret for long , and soon everyone knows that Leo used to be a girl.

As David prepares to come out to his family and transition into life as a girl and Leo wrestles with figuring out how to deal with people who try to define him through his history, they find in each other the friendship and support they need to navigate life as transgender teens as well as the courage to decide for themselves what normal really means.

Reviews

  • Transphobic

    2
    By magmagoat
    Okay so I really wanted to read this book because it gives us trans people some representation, but from what I’ve seen it gives it poorly, in the summary they describe HER as a he, any time you refer to a trans person you use their current pronouns and don’t say “oh they want to be a [preferred gender]”, because they already are deep down. If you would like a book that perfectly describes being trans I recommend the Symptoms of Being Human.
  • Maybe think twice about this book

    1
    By SheOnlyWantsMyBooks
    I would advise against picking up this book, as trans readers have said it is transphobic. It tries to tackle transphobia but still includes misconceptions and is offensive to some. I'd recommend Meredith Russo's If I Was Your Girl instead, that one is written by a trans author and so is a lot more genuine and not stereotypical or offensive.
  • Wow just... wow!

    5
    By Nicolerhoades
    This book was great, it explained transgender better than any description I have ever read. It's really empowering and cute. You'll be feeling secondhand embarrassment and anger throughout the book. I recommend this to anyone but people questioning and parents of trans people souls read this for more insight and a good story. <3
  • Outstanding

    5
    By MrDigitalDante
    I read this last year and this book is definitely the best book I've ever read. This book does pretty much everything right. Compelling story, good characters, and it doesn't take 2 pages to describe one thing. I highly recommend this book. Reading this has been the best experience I think you can ever get with a book.