The book George was written by Alex Gino. Alex Gino was born and raised Staten Island, NY, and has traveled through 44 states during an 18-month time period. Now Alex has happily settled back in Oakland, CA. Alex Gino has been an advocate and activist for the LGBTQIA+ communities since 1997, and has also been an active participant of other organizations/communities as well. To learn more, check out Alex's website here. About the book...This book is about a character named "George", who a boy, but feels and believes that he is a girl. She feels as if she would have to keep the secret forever and only be able to observe girls through her magazine collections of them. However, when her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web, George saw this as an opportunity to show everyone, specifically his mom, that she was a girl, not a boy. Unfortunately, she gets turned down when trying out for Charlotte's part because the teacher took it as a joke. How could a boy play a girl's part? With the help of his best friend Kelly, George comes up with a plan to still be included in Charlotte's role, but most importantly, so that everyone will know who she is.
This book isn't just about gender identity, but also about courage to be oneself. I can only imagine the struggle that George felt as she grew up. She felt trapped within her own body and she wasn't able to express who she was freely to the world. It was the one thing that she'd always wanted. Not just that, but I also felt the mom's pain and confusion. As an aunt of 9 kids, I can only imagine what I would feel if one of them were in George's cases where they felt like a boy or girl and were not treated or seen as them. I think I would be confused as well and take longer to accept the truth, but at the same time, it would be painful to me knowing that they are the ones who are suffering and suffocating daily on trying to be themselves. We teach kids everyday to be who they are, yet when they are, we sometimes reject them because they are "too different" instead of looking at them as "too unique". This reminds me of a book I read recently called Population One. It was a book written by an 18-year-old with autism. In his book, he talked about how we are a POPULATION, but we are made up of INDIVIDUALS that are each different and unique, which makes us a Population of individuals. Each individuals has an affect to the world somehow, and when we all come together, we become a galaxy, which then becomes the universe as one (McNamer, 2013). I feel like this relates to this book or topic as well. Instead of looking at someone as "they have autism/a disability" or "they are gay/lesbian/queer, etc", we need to look at them as individuals who are unique and can come together to help shape this world we live in. Now going back to the book, I think George is a very courageous young girl. It takes a lot to stand against the typical norms, and that is something that I can really relate to. Going off on a little tangent here, but in my culture, we are not allowed to date or marry same last name because they believe we are all brothers and sisters, whether we are blood related or not. You get shamed on for doing that. Lucky for me, I am in that situation. My current serious relationship is with a same last name man. We always, and still do, have to hide our relationship from others, especially from the people who love most. Like George, I am frightened and scared of how they would react. I'm always in constant fear that someone would find out about our secret. However, I feel that George is more brave than I am because she was willing to be in that play, and tell her mom about who she really is. I'm sure she was scared and nervous too, but she did it. I'm jealous yet glad that she has a supportive family that was willing to work things out with her despite how awkward or different it may be. Her mom was very supportive, even though I could tell that it was hard for her to process things through. To go against the social norms is already hard enough, but to accept the difference and embrace it...it's even more hard, and takes up even more courage sometimes, I feel. That is why I applaud her mom for slowly accepting it, and embracing who her child is and not what she wants her to be. That too, takes a lot of courage. Another character that I enjoyed was Kelly, George's best friend. I loved how open and accepting Kelly was. She didn't hate on him or felt disgusted by him, which is something scary when you have a secret that goes against the social norm. Yet she helped George find her identity, and she helped George build up her courage to play Charlotte in the play, and to dress up as a girl to go to the zoo with her and her Uncle. That is definitely a best friend right there. I think George was very lucky to have a friend who was willing to accept her for who she is, and help her find herself and show everyone who she is. Just like the mom, I believe that took a lot of courage as well for Kelly to stand alongside with George to go against the social norms. After reading the book, I reflected a lot as a person and as a teacher. How can I learn to slowly embrace my students who go through the same thing as George does? What can I best do to help them? Then as I read the article, Discovering their Identity by Suzanne Evans, Susan Gilbert, and Thomas Doyle (2017), I realized the power of literature to help affirm gender identity through the quote "through the selections of the literature read aloud, teachers have the power to break the barriers of stereotypes, teach acceptance for children who demonstrate nonconforming behavior, help students value gender diversity, recognize and cross gender barriers, and take action to promote equity and justice". As teachers, we DO have the POWER to make changes in the world, and it starts with a BOOK in a CLASSROOM. How we teach it can change children's view of the social norms equipping them with the tools to alter those social norms and make it become their own. How wonderful does that sound as a teacher? That we can impact library choices, curriculum decisions, and policies that include gender nonconforming people and become an advocate in all of our communities (Stachowiak, 2018). That is something truly amazing, and something to look forward to as a teacher. Evans , S., Gilbert , S., & Doyle , T. (2017). Discovering Their Identity: Using Gender Nonconforming Picture Books in Early Education Classrooms. Children's Literature , 20–21. Retrieved from https://asulearn.appstate.edu/pluginfile.php/472422/mod_page/content/16/discovering their identity_gender nonconforming.pdf Gino, A. (2015) George. New York, NY: Scholastic. McNamer, T. (2013) Population One: Autism, Adveristy, and the Will to succeed. Lake Placid, NY: Aviva Publishing. Stachowiak, D. (2018). The Power to Include: A starting place for creating gender-inclusive literacy classrooms. Literacy Today, 28–30. Retrieved from literacyworldwide.org
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