They resolve to find Benji’s dad-a famous comic-book artist-and partner to finish Ro’s rocket for the science fair. An accident in science class triggers a chain of events forcing Benji and Ro, who is new to the school, to interact and unintentionally learn each other’s secrets. Along with their profound personal losses, the protagonists share a fixation with the universe’s intriguing potential: Ro decides to complete the rocket and hopes to launch mementos of her father into outer space while Benji’s conviction that aliens and UFOs are real compels his imagination and creativity as an artist. As for Benji, not only has his best friend, Amir, moved away, but the comic book holding the clue for locating his dad is also missing.
Ro’s father, a fellow space buff, was killed by a drunk driver the rocket they were working on together lies unfinished in her closet. Unfolding in mid-1980s Sacramento, California, this story stars 12-year-olds Rosalind and Benjamin as first-person narrators in alternating chapters. The book assumes a white default, with ethnicity cued by naming convention.Ī fine addition to LGBTQ children’s literature.Īn aspiring scientist and a budding artist become friends and help each other with dream projects. Liv’s two moms add further dimension to a tale that unabashedly affirms the importance of accepting and celebrating differences. His coming-out to friend Jacob is realistically brief and an enormous relief. Along the way, he contends with a mean-spirited bully and the loss of a former friend even as he makes new, more loyal friends and wrestles with his own shortcomings. He-still “she” to others-works to convince the school’s new principal that students should have some choice in clothing, moving from an unsuccessful conversation to an unpromising petition to a brilliantly orchestrated media event. Readers learn that, over the years, Liv has become increasingly less tolerant of being assigned female pronouns and the name “Olivia.” Being required to wear a skirt daily at middle school is the last straw. It must be part of their job description.” Throughout, Liv’s voice is convincing and a pleasure to read. In a few months, Liv effects a major change in his new middle school’s antiquated dress code while simultaneously acquiring the courage to come out as transgender.įrom the start, readers are drawn into the story by 11-year-old Liv’s believable, humor-tinged narration: “Little brothers can always be counted on to reach peak levels of annoying at exactly the wrong moment.
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