Parrotfish (Hardcover)

by Ellen Wittlinger (Author)
Key Phrases: stoplight parrotfish, Aunt Gail, Tiny Tim, Winter Carnival (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Grade 9 Up—As in Hard Love (S & S, 1999), Wittlinger tackles GLBT issues, introducing readers to Grady McNair, formerly known as Angela. This fast read follows Grady through the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas as he comes out as transgendered, faces issues of acceptance and rejection at school and at home, and falls in love with the hottest girl in school. Funny and thought-provoking in turns, the book does suffer from a few structural problems. The narrator's voice is very feminine for somebody who has internally always felt like a boy, and with little effort on his part, Grady ends the book with family approval, new and old friends, a previously forbidden pet, and the end of an embarrassing family holiday tradition. Flaws aside, the book is an excellent resource for building awareness about, and serving the increasing number of, transgendered teens. Helpful resources include Web sites and further-reading material. The lack of similar titles available, except for Julie Ann Peters's Luna (Little, Brown, 2004), and Wittlinger's captivating storytelling ability combine to make this a book that most libraries should stock. Grady eventually decides that he will always straddle the 50 yard line of gender, and the book should help teens be comfortable with their own place on that football field.—Cara von Wrangel Kinsey, New York Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Angela McNair is a boy! Oh, to the rest of the world she's obviously a girl. But the transgendered high-school junior knows that she's a boy. And so, bravely, Angela cuts her hair short, buys boys' clothing, and announces that his name is now Grady and that he is beginning his true new life as a boy. Of course, it's not as simple as that; Grady encounters an array of reactions ranging from outright hostility to loving support. To her credit, Wittlinger has managed to avoid the operatic (no blood is shed, no lives are threatened) but some readers may wonder if--in so doing--she has made things a bit too easy for Grady. His initially bewildered family rallies around him; he finds a champion in a female gym teacher; he loses but then regains a best friend while falling in love with a beautiful, mixed-race girl. Wittlinger, who is exploring new, potentially off-putting ground here (only Julie Anne Peters' Luna, 2004,has dealt with this subject before in such detail), manages to create a story sufficiently nonthreatening to appeal to--and enlighten--a broad range of readers, including those at the lower end of the YA spectrum. She has also done a superb job of untangling the complexities of gender identity and showing the person behind labels like "gender dysphoria." Grady turns out to be a very normal boy who, like every teen, must deal with vexing issues of self-identity. To his credit, he does this with courage and grace, managing to discover not only the "him" in self but, also, the "my." Michael Cart
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Young Adult
  
• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing (July 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416916229
• ISBN-13: 978-1416916222
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,801 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Important Novel That Just Misses the Mark, July 7, 2007

By	S. Alston - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I thought this novel was okay. It was well written, as all of Wittlinger's book are. She had wonderful characters and quite a bit of humor. I really liked everyone, especially Sebastian. I hope there's someone in real life just like him! Angela/Grady was very easy to like and understand.

My problem with it is that Grady's transgendered natured seemed to... technical. For me, the book on scratched the surface on how it feels to be transgender. It felt secondhand and distant. And for someone who claims not to like labels, Grady sure loves to use them. "Transgendered" and "Gender Dysphoria" were thrown around true to dictionary definitions.

Basically, the core of this story reads like an afterschool special, not a true-to-life drama and that takes away from the overall quality of the story. I'd recommend Luna over this one. And for a great novel that features a boy named Grady, definitely check out Target by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, July 10, 2007

By	TeensReadToo.com "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

Angela Katz-McNair isn't your typical teenage girl. She is, in fact, a boy. Sure, she may have the body parts that science uses to dictate her gender, but, in this case at least, science has gotten it all wrong.

Shortly before Christmas, Angela announces to her family that she's decided to act on the issue of being a boy trapped in the body of a girl. Her name is now Grady. She's cut her hair short and she's wearing boy's clothes. Grady is determined to make the change permanent, and as complete as he possibly can.

He starts by announcing his decisions to his family, which is met with assorted reactions. His dad seems to take the news in stride; after all, Grady was always a tomboy who did "guy stuff" with him anyway. His sister, Laura, is sure that Grady is out to ruin her life, and her high school experience. His younger brother, Charlie, doesn't care all that much, as long as the news doesn't affect his video game playing. And his mother, well, his mother isn't at all sure what to think, how to act, or what to do.

Since Grady is determined, he doesn't just turn into a transgendered person at home. He makes his intentions known at school, too, and you can probably guess what some of the consequences are. Friends are no longer friends; indifferent acquaintances become outright enemies. But there are also bright moments in Grady's new life: he makes a new best friend, Sebastian, who introduces him to the scientific wonder of the parrotfish, an ocean fish who can, and does, change gender. He also finds allies in Russ and Kita, a powerhouse high school super-couple who raise new questions in Grady's mind when he starts falling for Kita himself.

PARROTFISH is a wonderful, emotional novel dealing with the issues of identity and transgenderism. Previously, the only other book I've read on the matter is Julie Anne Peter's Luna, in which a girl was born in the body of a boy. I have to say that both novels are wonderful, and for teens questioning their own identity, are more than just a good read. Ms. Wittlinger has also included resources in the back of PARROTFISH for help and support. Overall, this is a great work of fiction, but it's also a great story dealing with one teen's struggle to find himself outside of society's norm.

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not a realistic view of trans life, February 19, 2008

By	A. Burt (WA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was hoping that this would be the first young adult novel to really get into Transgender issues. Unfortunately, like the book Luna the author doesn't understand what it is like to actually go through the transition. While Luna was told from the point of view of a family member, and therefore the author's voice was more convincing, Parrotfish is told from the point of view of a kid actually considering transition himself. The author certainly did some reasearch, but she didn't make Grady's life convincing. For a better account on this subject, try the nonfiction book Becoming a Visible Man or What Becomes You (American Lives).