User:Will Schott/George (novel)

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George is a children's novel about a young transgender girl written by American author Alex Gino. The novel tells the story of Melissa, a middle school girl who is unable to be herself to the rest of the world. The rest of the world sees Melissa as George, a boy. Melissa uses the class play Charlotte's Web to show her mom that she is a girl by switching roles with her best friend, and preforming the part of Charlotte.

The novel has been subject to much literary analysis, including articles from the Journal of Children's Literature and the Lambda Literary Review. The articles discuss how Alex Gino uses his novel, George, to fill the void of transgender middle grade literature. Additionally, Gino has a positive impact on both transgender and youth literature.

Scholastic first published the novel on August 25, 2015. Jamie Clayton, a transgender actress, narrated the audio book. After a positive reception from literary sponsors prior to its release the number of copies to be printed was increased by 15,000.

Alex Gino received largely positive feedback for George, from sources such as The New York Times and the National Public Radio. However, the story's young transgender protagonist, Melissa, was controversial to parents and teachers, which led George to be listed on the American Library Association's list of the 10 Most Challenged Books of 2016, 2017, and 2018. The Journal of Children's literature stated that the book did not accurately represent the struggles of the transgender community because members og the transgender community are criticized for more than just their gender identity.

Background

Alex Gino wrote George because it "was a book [they] wanted to read" growing up. This book is not exactly based on Gino's life because they are gender-queer, while Melissa is a girl. In addition, they grew up in different environments; unlike Gino, Melissa has access to the internet and more positive representations of the transgender community. Gino also wanted to write George because Middle-grade literature aimed for 3rd grade to 7th grade did not have any books about transgender people. They wanted to fill this hole and teach children about these issues. George simultaneously teaches kids to be tolerant of trans people, while showing children who are trans that there are other people going through similar experiences.

Gino started their work on George in 2003 before it was published on its August 2015 release date. They needed to make frequent draft revisions to adjust to the changing social environment towards trans people. In the future Gino wants George to become "historical fiction," meaning that in the future, people will wonder why people were opposed to trans people.

George was Gino's first published book; however, in September of 2019, they published You Don't Know Everything, Jilly P! which discusses the intersection of Deafness and Black Lives Matter movement. They were also featured in the anthologies Our Story Begins and How I Resist. They want to continue writing "progressive middle grade fiction," and address societal issues.

Plot

George by Alex Gino follows Melissa, a transgender girl who her family, and the rest of the world view as George. Melissa is in the third grade and her grade will be doing a production of Charlotte's Web. As auditions are fast approaching each girl will audition for the role of Charlotte and each boy will audition for the role of Wilbur, the pig. Melissa wants to audition for the role of Charlotte. When Melissa gets called out into the hall and does her audition as Charlotte, her teacher, Ms. Udell thinks Melissa is making a joke and tells Melissa that she cannot play the role of Charlotte. Since Melissa does not want to play a role other than Charlotte and Ms. Udell said that was not an option, Melissa takes a role in the stage crew. Meanwhile, at home, Melissa's mom finds her secret collection of female magazines. Her mother views Melissa's actions as childish and says that she does not want to see Melissa wearing girl clothing, shoes, or going in her room at all. Back at school, Melissa is still upset with Ms. Udell's reaction to her audition, and she feels distant from Kelly since Kelly got the role of Charlotte. Eventually, Melissa gains the confidence to tell Kelly that she is a girl, and after processing this news, Kelly becomes a supportive best friend in Melissa's efforts to tell the world she is a girl. One afternoon, as the stage crew is working on the set, Jeff, the class bully, says that if he met a talking spider he would step on it. Melissa feels the instinct to protect Charlotte and writes "SOME JERK" on a piece of paper and drops it on Jeff's back, paining his sweatshirt with the words. Jeff sees the damage, and punches Melissa to punish her for ruining his favorite sweatshirt, which causes her to throw-up on Jeff. Both Melissa and Jeff are in trouble; however, in the process of getting punished, Melissa discovers that the Principal is sympathetic to transgender people.

Later in the evening, when Melissa's mom questions her about the magazines, Melissa reveals to her mom that she is a girl. Her mom disregards her feelings, crushing Melissa in the process. On the other hand, when Melissa tells Scott that she is a girl, he thinks her feelings match her behavior, and he offers his help and understanding to her. The night before the performance, Kelly and Melissa devise a plan for Melissa to be Charlotte in the play, which will help show the world that she is a girl. Kelly will perform in the morning, and Melissa will perform at the evening show. When it was time for Melissa to perform, people are shocked to see Melissa on stage, whom they all saw as a boy performing the role of a girl. Her mom is initially shocked at this performance, but the performance later helps her become a more supportive mom to Melissa.

After the excitement of the performance, Melissa feels more comfortable with herself. When Kelly invites her to spend the day with her uncle at the zoo, Melissa takes this opportunity to show her true self as she chooses because she will be surrounded by people who do not already know her as George. Dressed in Kelly's clothing, she and Kelly happily enjoy the day at the zoo.

Analysis

Wikipedia Guideline say that the analysis page should address the following questions. What was the impact of the book's ideas? Was the book subject to scholarly analysis? Did reviewers extract key points and arguments? Did critics evaluate or build upon the ideas?

Mel Morrow in the Lambia Literary review writes about Alex Gino's George. Morrow writes, the problems that transgender children face both privately and publicly are addressed head-on by Alex Gino in George. During Melissa's transition period, Gino demonstrates these difficulties through Melissa's interaction with various characters. Through these interactions, Gino demonstrates diverse responses to Melissa's transition while gradually leading the characters to accept Mellisa's transition.

Morrow believes that the intended reader for George is eight to twelve years old. This age range intelligently removes "sexuality from the identity-formation equation." Melissa breaks the stigmatism that her family and readers may hold that gender expression goes side by side with sexuality.

Due to the scarcity of young adult transgender literature, George will have an integral role as the LGBTQ+ literature landscape develops. Gino's young adult novel provides a positive representation of the LGBTQ+ community to all readers whether they are questioning their gender or not. George will relate with all readers because even though no two humans share the same upbringing, everyone experienced childhood. Morrow states that "Gino's Excellent writing is gravy, and George is a life-saving book."

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Genre

LGBTQ+ Literature

George falls under several genres. The intended reader for George is eight to twelve years old. George is fictional novel that also falls under the genres of children and LGBTQ+ literature.

Publication

Gino started their work on George in 2003, and the novel underwent several drafts before its August 2015 release. Gino worked closely with editors Jean Marie Stine and with David Levithan from Scholastic Corporation. One of the major edits to Gino's work was the title; the original title was Girl George (a reference to Boy George), but Scholastic changed it to George during the editing process. Prior to George's commercial release, Scholastic sent over 10,000 copies to teachers in the United States which received mixed, but largely positive feedback. The teachers and librarians who opposed the novel argued that children are too young to be discussing these issues. However, the positive feedback convinced Scholastic to increase the first printing order from 35,000 to 50,000 from 35,000.

Scholastic Press and Scholastic UK prints copies of George in both hardcover and softcover. Translated copies can be found in English, Spanish, French, Catalan, Chinese Complex, Danish, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish and Vietnamese. Trans woman actress Jamie Clayton narrated the audio book for the novel. Clayton is best known for her starring role in Sense8. Gino felt it was important to have "trans voices to telling trans stories" to make the story feel genuine.

Reception[

The School Library Journal, in a starred review, writes that George is "a required purchase" for readers interested in Middle-Grade literature. In a National Public Radio review of George, Gino points out that Melissa is not powerless when she faces her bullies, and that the novel as a whole "is a narrative about a young person who is very much trying to become who they are."

George has appeared on the American Library Association's Top Ten Most Challenged Book list every year since its publication. In 2016, it was listed at number three; in 2017 it was listed at number five, and in 2018, it was listed at number one. Parents and teachers challenge George because it features a transgender girl and her older brother's discussion of age inappropriate material. In response to the challenge against the brother, Gino believes that people are using the case against Scott to hide their underlying issues with the transgender girl.

George was selected to be one of 16 texts for the OBOB (Oregon Battle of the Books) for young middle school students. However, two school districts within Oregon withdrew their students from the competition as a result of the transgender protagonist and plot of the novel.

Jennifer Laughran of the Andrea Brown Literacy Group referred to Gino's approach to gender issues in children's literature as "ground breaking".

Tim Federle of The New York Times claims that George stands out from other LGBTQ+ Children's literature due to the novel's inclusion of Charlotte's Web. If someone can not believe that someone can be transgender just has to remember that a farm of talking animals was believable.

Accolades

Awards[edit]

• 2016 Stonewall Book Award: Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children's Literature Award
• 2016 California Book Awards: Juvenile (Gold)
• 2016 Lambda Literary Award: LGBT Children's/Young Adult

Nominations[edit]

• 2016-2017 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
• 2016 E.B. White Read Aloud Award: Middle Reader
• 2016-2017 Georgia Children's Book (Gr. 4-8) Awards: Other Worthwhile Books for Grades 4-8
• 2015 Goodreads Choice Award: Best Middle Grade & Children's

See also

• 2015 in literature