Lisa was born in Nottingham in 1980. She spent most of her childhood drawing, daydreaming and making up stories in her head (but never getting round to writing them down). As a teenager she was bitten by the acting bug and at 19 moved to London to study drama at university. Every once in a while, I’ll come across a book that will make me feel all multitudes of emotions at the same time – in this case, The Art of Being Normal. It really is something beautiful. It’s touching, funny, eye-opening and so well told. Lisa Williamson really understands what it’s like to be a teenager in the modern age, and how we can be both great friends and, sadly, bullies at times. Cannot Spit It Out: Kate teeters on the edge of coming out to her parents multiple times, but simply cannot bring herself to do it.

Bratty Teenage Daughter: More like preteenage, but Livvy Piper comes off as this a lot of the time, and she rarely has anything nice to say to or about Kate. I wanted to go a little more in depth on the use of pronouns and names in this book. Though Kate is a trans girl - A GIRL - for most of the book she still goes by her birth name and he/him pronouns. Both in narration and dialogue David and he/him are used, which I didn't have much of a problem with until she was out. Even after Kate is out to Leo, he still continues to call her David and uses he/him pronouns. You'd think a trans person would understand the importance of names and pronouns. HE KNOWS how much it hurts to be called by his birth name and yet he still goes out and calls Kate by hers. That's just plain bad and if the author did any research on this, she'd know. Trans Relationship Troubles: Leo gets rejected by his crush after coming out and then gets Forced Out of the Closet by his crush's friends. Strong Family Resemblance: Leo is pretty much a carbon copy of his Disappeared Dad. Kate also takes after her own father; understandably, she's not happy about it. urn:lcp:artofbeingnormal0000will_2015:epub:d0bf1aa3-5305-4722-b0cb-795c630eb8ed Foldoutcount 0 Identifier artofbeingnormal0000will_2015 Identifier-ark ark:/13960/t8z983v3q Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781910200322

Forced Out of the Closet: Leo comes out as trans to his crush Alicia, but she rejects him. Alicia's friends find out his secret and out him to the entire school. I’m also quite interested in the absent-but-accepting parent aspect? I find that really interesting, actually, and would be intrigued if other elements of the book weren’t putting me off.

And I also like Leo a lot! And I like how, at least in the Dutch version, the different point of views are indicated with different fonts. I really like how this worked out! No Name Given: Kate's father's name is never said, though her mother's name is Jo. Similarly Leo's father Jimmy/Jonathan's name is brought up frequently, but his mother's name (Samantha) only finally shows up in the second half of the book.The Cutie: Tia is a cheerful toddler who loves Disney princess movies, likes to wear fairy wings around the house, and adores her big brother. David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he’s gay. The school bully thinks he’s a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth: David wants to be a girl. The more I think about it, the less I like this book. However, there were a few moments when I got quite emotional. I hope this book paves the way for more trans YA main characters. Their voices are shamefully underrepresented in literature.

Broken Pedestal: Leo, who has never met his father, idealizes him as a dashing adventurer, who he is certain misses Leo just as much as Leo misses him. When he finally does meet him, it transpires that Jonathan Denton has a whole new life as an upper middle class family man, and wants absolutely nothing to do with Leo. Two British transgender teens try to come to terms with their lives while facing serious bullying in their school.Mentor in Queerness: In a way, more experienced Leo is this to closeted Kate since he is the only other trans person she has ever met. The Art of Being Normal is the best YA novel I’ve read this year. David and Leo are unforgettable characters whose story will break your heart – and then mend it again. A truly remarkable debut; I can’t recommend it highly enough. Everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – should read this incredible book” -Cat Clarke I know that trans people have different experiences and points of view on their gender, but so many things about this book seemed off to me.

On a meta level, and reportedly unitentionally, the two protagonists share their names with an iconic Hollywood duo. The book has a whole lot of misgendering, deadnaming and usage of the wrong pronouns and on top of that, there's bullying, transphobia and name calling and if that's not bad enough, here's some more. Satellite Love Interest: Zachary Olsen doesn't get much characterization outside of existing as Kate's handsome, popular crush who doesn't seem aware that she even exists, nor does he get any lines of dialogue. She's over him by the end of the story. The book alternates between [both characters'] viewpoints, but readers don’t find out what they have in common until Leo’s burgeoning romance gets derailed. . . . Debut author Williamson does a good job of depicting British class realities and [the characters'] struggles with family, bullying, friendship, and bravery. While the book doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulty of being a trans teen, it offers hope and the sense that even if you can’t get everything you want, you can get what you need.” — Publishers Weekly Jerkass Has a Point: Leo's jaded mother isn't wrong to warn her children that life isn't always fair, but could go about it in a different manner. She definitely wasn't lying about the twins' father abandoning her.This is not true. Granny has bridge on Wednesday evenings and doesn’t miss it for anyone, especially her least-favorite grandchild. Livvy is Granny’s favorite. But then Livvy is everyone’s favorite. Ocr ABBYY FineReader 11.0 (Extended OCR) Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.11 Ocr_module_version 0.0.14 Old_pallet IA18121 Openlibrary_edition The Greatest Story Never Told: Leo's mother's story is alluded to all through the book, but we only get bits of it from Kerry. UNA NOVELA REAL, CERCANA Y QUE ABORDA EL TEMA DE LA TRANSEXUALIDAD DE MANERA SUBLIME. IMPRESCINDIBLE. When I was eight years old, my class was told to write about what we wanted to be when we grew up. Then our teacher, Ms. Box, went around the room asking each of us to stand up and share what we had written. Zachary Olsen wanted to play soccer for England. Lexi Taylor wanted to be an actress. Harry Beaumont planned on being prime minister. Simon Allen wanted to be Harry Potter, so badly that the previous term he had scratched a lightning bolt onto his forehead with a pair of scissors.