A Memoir
From the publisher:
2020 ALA Alex Award Winner
2020 Stonewall — Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book.In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Then e created Gender Queer. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fan fiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears.
Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: It is a useful and touching guide on gender identity—what it means and how to think about it—for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
“It’s also a great resource for those who identify as nonbinary or asexual as well as for those who know someone who identifies that way and wish to better understand.” — SLJ (starred review)
This special deluxe hardcover edition of Gender Queer features a brand-new cover, exclusive art and sketches, a foreword from ND Stevenson, Lumberjanes writer and creator of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, and an afterword from Maia Kobabe.
https://amzn.to/3SVREcz
This book has been getting a lot of press and is one of the most banned books in America, so of course, I wanted to read it. I’m very glad I did.
Kobabe uses the pronouns, e/em/eir, and I will try to honor that choice. E struggled with eir identity for most of eir life, and that struggle is graphically portrayed here. When I say graphic, I don’t necessarily mean sexual, although there are a few sexual drawings here (which is probably what is getting this book banned.) What I mean by “graphically portrayed” is that first, this is a graphic novel, but second, it is a raw, honest look at a life of struggle. The struggle is real, and if more people read this book, maybe there would be more empathy and understanding towards the “other”, those who are different, in the LGBTQ+ community.
Like most graphic novels, it is a quick read, but it is also compelling and thought-provoking. I don’t have much experience to draw on here, so I learned a lot about the asexual nonbinary community. I feel it is also an important book because if Kobabe struggled with these feelings, you can bet others do as well. If this book gives comfort to even one person (and I’m sure it has affected many, many people) then it is worthwhile, worth reading, and certainly worth being available to anyone who wants to read it.
It’s 2022 and Two Books Are on Trial for ‘Obscenity’
These obscenity proceedings are in line with a history of attacks on our First Amendment rights to read, learn, and think for ourselves.
Not sure what is going on with the publisher, but the paperback version is not available directly from Amazon, but rather through the secondary sellers on Amazon. The hardcover (pictured on top) is only $20 and way less than the paperback, which is odd. There are also 2 different Kindle versions at different prices; I linked to the less expensive (original) edition.
8/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
GENDER QUEER: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe. Oni Press; Deluxe edition (July 5, 2022). ISBN: 978-1637150726. 240p.
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