An engaging novel of historical fiction with a young trans protagonist of color, set in New York City at the time of the Stonewall Riots.
A young Black and Puerto-Rican American girl has been living with her abuelita (grandmother) in New York City ever since her mother died six months ago. But Abuelita insists she “act like a boy” and not the girl she knows she is. The girl therefore runs away to Greenwich Village, where she meets Tami, a Black trans girl, and takes the name “Flor.”
Tami helps her get used to living on the street. She points out helpful adults, like (real historical figure) Marsha P. Johnson, tells Flor to be careful of the police, and assures her that people in the community “look out for each other.” Author Joy Michael Ellison also weaves in an intersectional awareness, as Tami notes that Black people are more likely that Whites ones to get in trouble with the police.
Flor and Tami visit another highlight of pre-Stonewall queer life, the Jewel Box Revue drag show. There, they see “female impersonator” Stormé DeLarverie and meet a fictional drag queen who wants Flor to draw her picture. She invites them to the Stonewall Inn that night.
Cue the riot, complete with Marsha P. Johnson and Stormé DeLarverie in their historical roles. Sylvia Rivera also makes an (unnamed) appearance, as a woman with a Puerto-Rican American accent and an expression like a “lioness,” a term Ellison uses for Johnson and Rivera in her picture book Sylvia and Marsha Start a Revolution!. (An Author’s note confirms her identity.) The narrative continues in the aftermath of the riots as the LGBTQ community uses the event as inspiration to organize further and push for more—although Ellison makes it clear that thriving LGBTQ communities and organizations existed even before the momentous night.
Ellison incorporates moments and phrases that those familiar with historical coverage of the evening will recognize, but embeds them in an exciting, first-person narrative that brings the events to life. They write in an Author’s Note that while some incidents of the riots are hard to confirm, that makes the event “perfect for historical fiction.”
Readers will likely find themselves, like Flor, motivated by the possibilities of freedom and equality that the riots catalyzed, and inspired by the models of strong trans girls of color. “I wanted to make sure that Flor and Tami reflected the vibrant intelligence and determination of the real girls who inspired their story,” Ellison says. I think they have succeeded.
Backmatter includes the Author’s Note, discussion questions, and a glossary. The book is part of the publisher’s “Girls Survive” series.
I have only one small suggestion. When Flor first meets Tami, Tami notes that the Village is full of “Gay boys … and girls like me. You know, girls who were born boys?” That may have been the phrasing of the 1960s, but I know many trans people today who reject the idea that they were “born” one gender and changed to another. Rather, they were assigned a gender at birth that simply wasn’t the correct gender for who they always were. (See also the GLAAD Media Reference Guide on this.) In this book for young readers who may be for the first time encountering the idea of being trans, I would have preferred a different wording, even at the risk of slight historical inaccuracy, in order to align better with how many trans people view their identities today. Having said that, in other places the book thoughtfully explores use of accurate terminology, such as when Tami explains that “Some people call us transvestites—that means someone who has, you know, parts like we do, but wears a dress. I’ve never liked that word, though. I just think of myself as a girl.” Elsewhere, Flor notes that she knows she wants to be a girl, but is happy for the drag queens who “enjoy dressing as women when they wanted.”
Even purely nonfiction books about Stonewall for this age group rarely convey the happenings and significance of the event so clearly and with such impact.
(For another fictionalized view of Stonewall for middle-grade readers, check out the graphic novel History Comics: The Stonewall Riots: Making a Stand for LGBTQ Rights.)
