this is a super sweet and uplifting tale of standing up for your rights and maintaining healthy relationships. ( )

In a few months, Liv effects a major change in his new middle school’s antiquated dress code while simultaneously acquiring the courage to come out as transgender.

From the start, readers are drawn into the story by 11-year-old Liv’s believable, humor-tinged narration: “Little brothers can always be counted on to reach peak levels of annoying at exactly the wrong moment. It must be part of their job description.” Throughout, Liv’s voice is convincing and a pleasure to read. Readers learn that, over the years, Liv has become increasingly less tolerant of being assigned female pronouns and the name “Olivia.” Being required to wear a skirt daily at middle school is the last straw. He—still “she” to others—works to convince the school’s new principal that students should have some choice in clothing, moving from an unsuccessful conversation to an unpromising petition to a brilliantly orchestrated media event. Along the way, he contends with a mean-spirited bully and the loss of a former friend even as he makes new, more loyal friends and wrestles with his own shortcomings. His coming-out to friend Jacob is realistically brief and an enormous relief. Liv’s two moms add further dimension to a tale that unabashedly affirms the importance of accepting and celebrating differences. The book assumes a white default, with ethnicity cued by naming convention.

A fine addition to LGBTQ children’s literature. (Fiction. 9-12)
(Kirkus Review)

Great read -- Liv and his family are excellent characters, and the middle school dynamic feels accurate. Good pacing, moves right along, and I think this is a good vehicle for addressing trans identity for younger readers. I would prefer that there not need to be a hook (coming out in play, protesting uniforms) to portray young trans protagonists, but I'm glad that the books are being written and I think it's a nicely accessible read, appealing to middle grade kids. I could also just be really tired of reading the middle-school-sucks brand of book right now, but that's my issue. Middle school does suck, and middle schoolers need to see themselves and their struggles in their books. ( )

Liv’s story, told with humor, is about his efforts to change his middle school’s dress code while at the same time struggling to find the best way to come out as transgender. This LGBTQ novel reinforces the importance of accepting and treating all with fairness and compassion. Includes About the Author.

children's middlegrade fiction (trans boy from lesbian family gets picked on in middle school, makes new friends). There is a lot happening in this boy's life, seemingly way more complicated than it needs to be, but that is so often how life is--and it is real, and what's more, it is a good story. Liv is unfairly picked on by other kids, yes, but he also has some difficult choices to make of his own--in how he treats others, how truthful he is to his moms, whether he stands up for what he knows is right. (incidental/everyday diversity: new friend Jacob has a medical condition which requires him to use a cane from time to time, and Liv's Momma is an immigrant with family in Italy). ( )