INTERMEDIATE FICTION
Lukoff, Kyle

Different Kinds of Fruit

(3) 4-6 Living with her dad and mom near Seattle, sixth grader Annabelle finds her ho-hum life becomes a lot more interesting with the arrival of nonbinary new student Bailey, whose pronouns are they/them. Already quietly questioning her own sexual orientation, Annabelle is drawn to Bailey like a magnet, but Annabelle's father is surprisingly unwelcoming. His bombshell explanation: he's actually a transman and Annabelle's gestational parent, who, unlike Bailey, had to keep his identity secret to avoid discrimination. Although the dialogue is more earnest than realistic, this exploration of gender issues will engage readers with its satisfying progression as the sixth graders fight a bigoted mother in the classroom and take steps to join the wider LGBTQ+ community.

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