Twelve-year-old Eden Jones’s friends are all fake. Eden, who is nonbinary, has switched schools to help cope with their social anxiety, but they don’t want their mom to worry about them as they settle in. They therefore tell her that they’ve become friends with three of their new classmates—Duke, Tabitha, and Ramona. That works until Eden’s mom wants to throw Eden a birthday party—and tells Eden to invite their friends.
Eden decides they have to convince the three classmates to come to the party. But as Eden fumblingly reaches out, they find themselves actually bonding with Duke Herrera, a popular basketball player who is also trans (and has ADHD). Duke also helps Eden through their panic attacks because his brother has them, too. And Tabitha Holt, who is coming out as a lesbian and whose dad is in prison like Eden’s, along with pink-haired, pansexual Ramona Augustus, start to talk with Eden and hang out at their favorite bookstore. Eden sees in Ramona a fellow lonely person; they know that Ramona’s volleyball teammates have pretended to be nice to her but say nasty things about her behind her back. Soon, Jackie Marshall, a genderqueer student, joins their circle as well. But Duke is suspicious of Ramona for reasons he won’t say, adding tension to Eden’s efforts to connect. And what happens if these maybe-friends find out that Eden’s attempts to befriend them have been built on lies about their intent?
This is a warm-hearted story about queer kids finding friendship and community. While there is some mention of anti-LGBTQ actions, the emphasis is on joy and connections and the simple pleasure of being able to discuss queerness and queer history with someone who really gets it. Even though Eden’s mom is supportive of their nonbinary identity, and the local bookstore owner recommends queer books, Eden explains that “we never talk about queerness itself” in the way that they do with their new friends. And the queer identities depicted are many and varied: Eden is asexual and biromantic (although these aspects aren’t explored in any depth); Duke is bisexual and biromantic. And Tabitha, who is in foster care, finds a new placement with a lesbian and her trans partner.
A few of the passages in which the characters discuss queer identities feel a little stilted, like the characters are quoting from a glossary or a guide to how to support LGBTQ people—but I say that as an adult reviewer already familiar with such material. For young readers, however, such information may feel fresher than it seems to me—and it is vital enough that I’m not really going to complain. (The book also includes an actual glossary and list of resources at the end.)
Author Ronnie Riley, who, like Eden, is nonbinary and has experience with social anxiety and panic attacks, has given us a book that both celebrates queer youth in community with each other and that explores topics of anxiety and friendships to which many others should relate as well.
Eden, their mom, Tabitha, and Ramona are White; Duke is Filipino; and Jackie is Black. The book never deadnames Eden or indicates the gender they were assigned at birth.
