Parrotfish is a YA story about a high school junior named Grady. But Grady has not always been Grady. Within the past month, Grady cut his hair, bought himself new clothing from Goodwill, began wearing an ace bandage wrapped around his chest, and asked his family, friends, and teachers to stop calling him Angela.

His best friend Eve turns on him, afraid of what her cool new friends will do if they find out she's friends with that; hismother cries and has a hard time coming to terms with the change, his sister thinks he's ruining her life. But at school, he is surprised when support comes from an unexpecting place - a geeky boy named Sebastian tells Grady all about the parrotfish, who can change gender at will, if the reproductive needs of the community need more males. He also becomes friends with Russ, a reasonably cool guy who also happens to be dating Kita, the girl Grady has a huge crush on. Kita turns out to be a fierce supporter for Grady, as does the surly gym teacher, Ms. Unger. It's Ms. Unger who springs the trap set by school bully, after Eve manages to get word to Grady of what her new "friend" Darya has planned.

There's another thread that runs through the story, of the Christmastime chaos that Grady's father puts the family through every year. At the end of the story Grady manages to find a way to kindly put an end to their yearly torture, rewriting the script that they perform every year for the benefit of the town, which flocks in droves to see their 19th century reenactment of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

High school kids struggling with transgender issues, their friends and families; anyone who wants a better understanding of how it feels to be a transgender youth.

The fact that Grady found some incredible new friends after coming out

One friend, as much of a fierce advocate as she was for Grady, didn't ring true for me. I felt she was too forward in her speech to him, not finding out whether he WANTED to talk before jumping in with her feelings (which were extremely supportive, nonetheless).

Has an excellent voice and writes in an engaging manner for Young Adults. I did find that she used more description and less dialogue than is often recommended for YA.

There's a vital need for others to have some understanding that transgender kids and adults are NOT freaks, they are human beings, and have lives far beyond their identity as transgender.

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Created Oct 27, 2013 at 2:38pm • Submit your own review...