A Boy Like Me by Jennie Wood

Posted June 3, 2015 by shooting in Uncategorized / 12 Comments

A Boy Like Me by Jennie Wood
Review by Lauren
Source: copy from author; all opinions are my own


Official Summary: Born a girl, Peyton
Honeycutt meets Tara Parks in the eighth grade bathroom shortly after he
gets his first period. It is the best and worst day of his life.
Determined to impress Tara, Peyton sets out to win her love by mastering
the drums and basketball. He takes on Tara’s small-minded mother, the
bully at school, and the prejudices within his conservative hometown. In
the end, Peyton must accept and stand up for who he is or lose the
woman he loves.
Review: Peyton is a boy, but he doesn’t realize it. He falls in love with Tara the day he meets her in 8th
grade, but even then, he just knows that he likes Tara. As he gets
older, he’s adamant that he’s not a lesbian, but he’s more afraid of
what people will call him or how they will see him than really giving it
much though. In the end, he’s not a lesbian. He’s transgender – a boy
born in a girl’s body.
I think Wood did a great job getting into
Peyton’s mind. He felt real and it was easy to empathize with his
thoughts and feelings. At the same time, he’s a regular kid in a lot of
ways and he can easily make mistakes. He doesn’t always treat people the
way he should, but at the same time, he’s fiercely loyal. He loves
music and finds a connection with Tara because of it, as they both join
the jazz band in 8th grade. 
A Boy Like Me takes place over a certain amount
of years, which allows Wood to show Peyton grow and become the man he
feels inside.  LGBT novels are important and there are not that many
that deal with transgender teens, so I congratulate Wood on addressing
this topic with such finesse. I would definitely recommend for older
teen audiences and up.

12 responses to “A Boy Like Me by Jennie Wood

  1. Wow. This sounds like a perplexing enigma for sure: Peyton is a boy, he's adamant that he's not a lesbian, in the end, he is a boy born in a girl's body. I have to admit that these themes are quite difficult for me to follow along; though, they are pivotal in our modern-day. 🙂 Great review Lauren!

  2. I don't think I've ever read about a boy in a girl's body. It's a different and interesting topic, though not an easy one I'm sure.

  3. Oh interesting premises for this one. It sounds like you enjoyed it and I like that it focused on a topic that is really, just starting to be more widely talked about.

  4. Oh Lauren, this is perfect! I was just thinking the other day that pretty much all the LGBT books I read are just G and not at all representative of the other letters (or any other letter in the sexuality or gender spectrum). You're right, it's harder to come across YA books that feature transgendered characters, and it's especially good that this one features a very realistic protag. Adding this to my tbr now 🙂

  5. Wow, this book seems ridiculously complex. I've been loving the We Need Diverse Books campaign, and to see more diverse books is always awesome. <3 It's so cool that this author managed to portray everything so realistically, and make you feel so much for the MC. Plus, it's fantastic that she could handle this topic so well- that can be difficult for such a delicate topic.

    Lovely, lovely review! <3

  6. Love that it delves into the whole sexual orientation to do with transgender, and how confusing that would be at that age, I mean, I think a whole lot of people don't understand that with transgender it really isn't about sexual orientation at all.

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