Damian Alexander’s graphic-format memoir begins as he starts the first day of seventh grade. He has a plan to avoid the bullying he always experiences: never speak. That way, the bullies won’t have anything to tease him about. His plan fails, however, since he and his family are too different. His mother is dead, his father is gone, and he’s being raised by his grandparents in a low-income household. Damian himself prefers Barbies to GI Joes.
Gradually, and with the help of a school therapist, he learns to better understand himself and realize he is gay. The book ends with a look forward, with his later discovery that queer people can have happily ever afters and families, too, and that there were many other young people who struggled like he did.
An important, affirming work that may hit close to home for many young readers.
