Different Kinds of Fruit

February 7, 2022
Rising sixth grader Annabelle Blake is in her last year at her Tahoma Falls, Wash. school, and all she wants is a break from her small-town routine. Happily, change soon arrives in the form of Bailey Wick, a nonbinary new student on whom Annabelle develops her first crush. When Annabelle’s father reacts poorly upon learning Bailey’s gender, Annabelle learns that her dad is a “stealth” trans man who no longer publicly participates in a local LGBTQ community. Inspired by both her father and by Bailey, whose gender is disrespected by adults in the school community, Annabelle and her classmates fight for real, progressive change via protests and a Coming Out Day panel. Via the cued-white protagonists, Lukoff (Too Bright to See) highlights topics including climate change, gender presentation, intercommunity conflict, and LGBTQ history, but supporting characters—especially Bailey and their parents—are insufficiently developed, serving primarily to explain LGBTQ terms to Annabelle. Still, Annabelle’s energetic voice is infectious, and the book’s central theme—that labels can be both powerful and arbitrary—is bighearted and affirming. Ages 10–14. Agent: Saba Sulaiman, Talcott Notch.

Starred review from May 1, 2022

Gr 5 Up-Newbery Medal-winning author Lukoff brings a middle grade novel to warm the hearts of every rainbow family and ally. Annabelle enters sixth grade ready to make her final year at her small private school a great one-and the year starts auspiciously with a young teacher and a new friend, Bailey, who is nonbinary. All this good feeling begins to dwindle when Annabelle's father is inexplicably rude to Bailey, and the school principal allows an entitled mom to disrupt the class' plans to learn social studies by doing self-directed projects. Lukoff masterfully portrays the personalities, both child and adult, that Annabelle comes to know, believes she knows, and those whom Annabelle questions can ever know her. When she must handle the revelation that her own parents are queer and her transgender father gave birth to her, events could have become too big for the story. Yet Lukoff keeps them emotionally and narratively real, inviting empathy. VERDICT This one belongs in every library serving grade-school kids, and warrants booktalking and display to draw attention to the reality of the rainbow spectrum.-Francisca Goldsmith

Copyright 2022 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2022
Grades 4-7 *Starred Review* This coming-of-age story is told from the perspective of a sixth-grader named Annabelle, who attends a small-town school that runs a different program from the traditional public school. When a new student joins her class, which is composed of the same kids she's known for years, it's a big deal. The bigger deal? Her new friend Bailey is nonbinary, and just like that, her world expands tenfold. Through her friendship with Bailey, Annabelle learns to navigate all the new things she's learning about queer communities while also finding names for her own identity and totally crushing on her new friend. Meanwhile, Annabelle learns that her own dad is trans, and his attitudes about gender cause friction with Bailey's more fluid understanding. Lukoff offers a story with vivid, well-rounded characters that never talks down to kids; Annabelle's teacher attempts to instruct the class in some different perspectives on history, but pushback from the administration (and one very vocal member of Annabelle's class) will likely resonate with plenty of middle-schoolers and encourage them to consider who has power in their own classrooms. Themes of inclusion and privilege in today's society are seamlessly integrated into the familiar plot of a kid's first crush, and the focus on the great ways that communities can come together to keep everyone within them safe is a gratifying through line.

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Starred review from February 15, 2022
A girl on the cusp of middle school searches for understanding about herself, her parents, and the changing world around her. At the start of sixth grade, White cisgender girl Annabelle doesn't dare hope for surprises from her final year at her private school in the suburbs of Seattle. She itches to escape and discover wonders awaiting her outside the confines of her neighborhood--like drag brunch. However, her expectations for a boring year are turned upside down when Bailey, a White nonbinary student with the coolest rainbow shoes, and a new teacher with exciting plans for the curriculum join Annabelle's class. Unfamiliar feelings pull Annabelle into a fast friendship with Bailey despite her father's vocal disapproval and her mother's discomfort. Confronting her parents about their attitudes uncovers a side of her family history that Annabelle never could have imagined. Annabelle's first-person narration snaps with vivacious personality and humor. Lively banter and quirky facts contribute levity as Annabelle explores topics that weigh on her like privilege, climate change, privacy, and her own lack of vocabulary to describe her identity. Even adults in the story, particularly Annabelle's father, face challenges to their beliefs that require them to reflect and grow. Lukoff reflects diversity in the world around Annabelle while also heightening her awareness of spaces that are not as inclusive as they claim to be and exploring what to do with that understanding. Inquisitive, engaged, and action-seeking. (Fiction. 8-12)

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

January 1, 2022
Living with her dad and mom near Seattle, sixth grader Annabelle finds her ho-hum life becomes a lot more interesting with the arrival of nonbinary new student Bailey, whose pronouns are they/them. Already quietly questioning her own sexual orientation, Annabelle is drawn to Bailey like a magnet, but Annabelle's father is surprisingly unwelcoming. His bombshell explanation: he's actually trans and Annabelle's gestational parent, who, unlike Bailey, had to keep his identity secret to avoid discrimination. Although the dialogue is more earnest than realistic, this exploration of gender issues will engage readers with its satisfying progression as the sixth graders fight a bigoted mother in the classroom and take steps to join the wider LGBTQ+ community.

(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)