Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark

Bibliographic Information
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication year: 2013
ISBN: 978-0374324728

Reader’s Annotation
Brendan leads a typical high school life, with the bonuses of a position on the wrestling team and a beautiful girlfriend, until he comes to a surprising realization about his gender identity. With the help of a new friend deeply involved in the LGBT community, Brendan begins to come to terms with his discovery.

Plot Summary
Brendan is a high schooler with the seemingly perfect life. He has a solid and loving relationship with long-time girlfriend Vanessa, plenty of friends, and a respected position on the wrestling team. He ignores the recurring dream where he stars as a princess with flowing hair and soft skin, even though he always awakes feeling inexplicably right. The feeling slowly creeps into his waking hours with help from his new, openly transgender friend Angel, a receptionist at the local LGBT youth community center, and Brendan comes to the realization that he might be transgender. He is just as surprised as Vanessa and others who find out. In the meantime, Vanessa questions what her deep love for Brendan means if he starts identifying as a female. After avoiding Vanessa doesn’t work, Brendan has to confront her about what his feelings mean and who he really is, with Angel’s support and experience as a guide.

Critical Evaluation
Kristin Elizabeth Clark opens up two seldom-addressed topics with Freakboy. First, the notion that not every transgender person knows or even suspects this about their gender identity until later in life. Second, gender fluidity being different than firmly male or female. Choosing to write the story in the form of free verse poetry coaxes the reader along Brendan’s, Vanessa’s, and Angel’s journeys and the first person narration style drops the reader into the middle of each character’s deepest thoughts. Bringing the book’s core issues to the forefront of the reader’s consciousness is perhaps the most important characteristic of Freakboy, especially with the current social and political issues surrounding the LGBTQ community.

Author Information
Kristin Elizabeth Clark lives and writes in the Santa Cruz Mountains, Northern California. She hikes with her dog and reads to her cats… but she’s not one of THOSE people. Really.

She has worked as a child advocate within the juvenile justice system, as a children’s theater producer, and is a proud volunteer at Project Outlet in Mountain View, California.

Her young adult debut, Freakboy, was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) on October 22nd, 2013.

Source: www.kristinelizabethclark.com/about

Genre
Fiction
Poetry

Curriculum Ties
Health
Language Arts
Poetry
Social Sciences

Booktalking Ideas
Explain each of the three main characters’ personality and main struggle in the book, then read a short excerpt that reveals one of the main story arcs without giving away any spoilers. Then give a rating from 1-5 and tell the audience why this is my rating, and take questions.

Reading Level/Interest Age
Amazon: 12-18 years, grade level 7 and up
Booklist: Grades 9-12

Challenging Issues
Bullying
LGBTQ+
Sexual Content and/or Nudity
Violence

Preparing for Potential Challenges
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-potential-challenges.html
http://jeselynsminiyacollection.blogspot.com/p/preparing-for-specific-challenges-lgbtq.html

Why the Item Was Chosen
Books such as Clark’s are indescribably important for representation of different expressions of gender and sexual identity. Teenagers go through a fragile life change even if everything about them is “average;” if they start to question whether they are cisgender and have no resources against which to compare their feelings, they might think they are abnormal and resort to self harm. I chose this item for my collection because not many LGBTQ books tackle the topic of gender fluidity. Clark not only tackles it, she excels in making the reader understand and sympathize with Brendan as he goes on his journey of identity exploration. I can easily see Freakboy becoming a lifeline for young adults going through a similar crisis.