George Reflection

 Melissa’s story in Gino’s novel George was sweet, powerful, genuine, informative and emotional. Sadly, with this book being about a trans girl, I understand exactly what would make parents want to ban this book. This book is not political in the slightest, but those who want to ban it make it political. But, any child who reads this novel would not be reading it from a political lens.This story is about understanding and learning about the struggles that LGBTQIA+ members face in their everyday life. This book is emotional in that readers come to terms with the reality that members of the LGBTQIA+ community have to face hate and inner conflict that other kids do not need to worry about. With the way gender is constructed, this community is forced to answer gender based questions that do not necessarily have answers. When I read this novel, I do not think of it as being politically driven by “leftist” ideology; I think about the stories that we have to tell and that we are brave enough to tell. This novel reminds me of a book that I read in 5th grade, Wonder. It is about a kid who struggles with bullies at school and in life because he has a face deformity. Melissa reminds me of the main character from Wonder, named Auggie, because Melissa is different and made fun of in school because she is different. Words such as “freak” when used to describe how Melissa was different “crawled under her skin, settling deep into the crevices of her bones” (Gino 118).  My point in bringing up this character is because Wonder is not a frequently banned book like George is. While both are about the similar struggle of being born different than most people, Wonder is not banned because it does not disrupt the social construction of gender. 

It’s unsettling how people can show sympathy for people with facial deformities but not to people who were born in the wrong body. I’ve never really understood why there is an obsession to keeping the current gender construction in place and why altering from it is so threatening to some. But, what George has shown me is that if these genuine and eye-opening stories can be taught in schools, then maybe things can change. As we’ve talked about with many other books this semester, parents ban this book out of fear. Maybe it’s a fear that their children will want to be a trans boy or girl after reading this. Or maybe they don’t want their kids to have a harder life than most. But, what parents need to understand is that being silenced and invalidated about who you are is even more difficult. Melissa’s heart sank when her mom said, “I mean, being gay is one thing. Kids are coming out much earlier than when I was young. It won’t be easy, but we’ll deal with it. But being that kind of gay? That’s something else entirely” (Gino 128). This book is a beautiful and wholesome story about a young girl revealing her identity to the world. Melissa is strong. Maybe this strength is frightening to adults who were never able to reveal who they truly were.

One of the most important things I’ve learned this semester is that there is always another story that can be told and, more importantly, there is always another story that should be told. Diverse backgrounds in school curriculum is crucial to understanding the world around us. Instead of picking apart stories and claiming they are inappropriate, we need to advocate for reading these stories and listening to what other people want to share.