Green by Alex Gino (review)

Reviewed by: Green by Alex Gino Adam McConville Gino, Alex Green. Scholastic, 2023 [240p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781338776140 $17.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 6-8 Green Gibson has a good life: kids at Jung Middle School accept their nonbinary identity, they have a loving, supportive dad, and they have plenty of friends in the school's Rainbow Spectrum group for LGBTQIA+ kids and straight allies. One such ally, Ronnie, is a close friend, but Green now finds themself crushing hard. It seems like Ronnie likes them back, but how can a relationship between a self-identified [End Page 57] cis het boy and a nonbinary person work? Gino returns to the students last seen in Rick (BCCB 4/20) with a slice-of-life story about first love and labels in a cisgender world. There's little driving action here, so readers' willingness to stick around will come from how much they connect with Green. Fortunately, Green's a pretty cool kid going through some relatable problems for students of any gender. In addition to the "mindbendingly baffling" mystery that is Ronnie and worry that Ronnie sees them as a girl, Green's also dealing with tryouts for the school play and the onset of puberty. Gino sensitively handles a scene of Green getting their first period while out shopping and the resulting gendered expectations they feel because of it; they consider puberty blockers but ultimately decide they're fine to let their body change, for now. An inclusive school production of The Wizard of Oz (featuring a Tin Queer and a radiant Melissa returning as Dorothy) acts as a backdrop to Green and Ronnie's stage crew romance, while also offering some reasonably unobtrusive diversions into queer history. It takes time for Green to accept that neither they nor Ronnie need to relabel themselves to like one another, but the pair's miscommunications resolve with an affirming promise of a happy romance to come. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois