Both Can Be True

This is an important story about what it might be like to be a gender fluid kid. My 5th grader loved this one!

This book is perhaps written for Middle Grade kids but adults will enjoy it as well! Jules Machias does a splendid job addressing gender fluidity, friendship, overwhelming emotions, feelings of being alone and a number of other issues that come at this age. The story provides hope in helping a person at this age in understanding that they are not alone.My heart was so connected to the characters, this had me intrigued! And the story helped me as an adult to understand at a much deeper level the heart of a person navigating through this complexity.What can we do to get this book into more hands, adult as well as youth? Thank you Jules Machias. Your book expanded my heart and mind!

13 year old middle schoolers Ash and Daniel team up to save a dog’s life, while dealing with family, friends, and schoolmates who have issues with Ash and Daniel’s behavior being inconsistent with gender stereotypes and expectations. Ash is exploring their gender identity and expression, while Daniel, who is sensitive and cries a lot, continually gets grief from family and friends for being “overemotional.”I thought this was a very sweet story and I adored Ash and Daniel. It’s told in dual POV, first person and I loved hearing what was going on in both kids’ minds. I mostly really loved this book and it has a positive message about gender, rejecting gender stereotypes, and the importance of trying to see things from other people’s perspectives. There’s a bit of a romance between the kids, but the story focuses mostly on friendship. I liked how the parents were portrayed: I related a lot to Ash’s mom and was so relieved Ash had at least one understanding parent since their dad was so misguided. Even though this book may not be perfect, I think this kind of representation is so important for kids, even if they don’t know how lucky they are to have it! That being said, there are a couple things I think the book could have brought up but didn’t. The book has a very anti-label message, and while it’s totally understandable that some people might want to reject labels, I think there could have just been a sentence or two thrown in about how labels are really important to some people. Knowing that there’s a word that describes your experience and that other people may experience the same feelings can be very empowering and healing. The other thing I thought could have been mentioned was the possibility of Daniel having a mental health issue like anxiety. As the mother of a sensitive child with anxiety I recognized Daniel’s snowballing emotions. I think maybe having him start going to therapy or at least getting a diagnosis could have given the book a whole other level of representation. I don’t think either of these issues would be any reason not to read the book, just maybe have a conversation with your child about these issues and any other thoughts or feelings you had about the story. Honestly I think it would be amazing if a parent and child both read the book and talked about it together.I originally checked this book out from Libby for my daughter who is starting middle school this year–and she thought it sounded boring (she’s more into books like Wings of Fire), so I decided to read it myself. She takes all this for granted and just does not care that us queer Gen-Xers really would have loved having representation like this! She might be more interested in the story in a couple years, I will keep it in mind for her.I listened to the audiobook and thought narrators MW Cartozian Wilson and Kirby Heyborne did a great job with the kids’ voices, especially Heyborne as Daniel. His delivery while sounding like he was about to cry, trying not to cry, or actually crying was perfect. (I’m just a sucker for male characters who cry a lot. The vulnerability just gets to me!) While I do like the gender-neutral sound of Wilson’s voice, their delivery sounds a bit stilted, like they are reading instead of performing.Rep: Questioning/possibly genderfluid MC, queer questioning male MC (possibly with anxiety or other mental health issue), trans and nonbinary side characters, various queer side characters, Black and Filipino/American side charactersCW: Transphobic bullying/assualt (past), transphobia, deadnaming/misgendering, threatened outing, misogyny, divorce, mentions of pet euthanasia

Thank you for seeing those of us who live in the crossfade and never see ourselves represented in the world.

I am so excited about this book! I feel like of all the books written for kids and teens, middle-grade fiction seems to lack diversity the most. I want my kids to be able to read about diverse characters and viewpoints, but they aren't ready for the heavier material in a lot of YA books. Both Can Be True is amazing! It is truly geared toward tween readers and is a beautiful story about identity, love, friendship, and parental relationships. Ash is a wonderfully well-developed character. Even the supporting characters are fully fleshed out. I am so happy that my oldest is going to read this next.

Finally, a book written for Middle Grade kids that helps them understand they are not alone during these confusing and sometimes difficult years. It addresses gender fluidity, emotions, friendship, feeling alone and a host of other issues that come at this age. The addition of a little abandoned dog named Chewbarka adds another level of beauty to the story. Machias writes with understanding and compassion. I highly recommend this book for teachers, school libraries, and all kids in this age group.

I almost DNFd this due to a very slow start. That is the reason for the 4 stars. Once I pushed past the exposition, I managed to fall in love with the main characters and didn't want to put the book down again.

This book was truly an outstanding one. The story is told in a way that is reflective of the perspectives of Gen Z kids. With each word, more depth is added to some truly amazing characters. The conflict was multi-layered, and added many new levels to the novel. I would recommend this book for everyone, kids and adults alike. It is perfect for tweenagers and up. The diverse spectrum of characters really made this book something special. It reflected how no two people are truly alike, especially in this modern world.

Just buy it!

I loved this! I think both of the main characters are so deeply loveable, both flawed but in a way that is understandable and real and organic and makes you love them more. Really, this book is amazing at presenting most of its characters as flawed but not fundamentally bad people. It deftly weaves its themes about nuance and the complexity of life into every scene without making the book feel bogged down or preachy and maintains a light, fluid, easy to read pace.A romance develops between the main characters but never at the cost of their other relationships, and neither of them are reduced down to The Love Interest. I also really enjoyed how it approached gendered expectations in multifaceted ways, both with a gender diverse kid and a cis one, and how those expectations can hurt and limit all of us. I came into the book expecting to relate to mostly to Ash, but I also related to Daniel. I don't often see emotional intensity discussed in fiction or media, and especially not through the lens of a teenage boy. I really appreciated Daniel's character and the lessons he learns and goes through and how they echo Ash, despite their different experiences.My only critiques would be in some of the pacing towards the end of the book. It does feel like the generally great pacing stumbled a bit at the end and wrapped things up kind of abruptly. I like that some things are left ambigous at the end because that's real life, and it also ties really well into the book's themes about not everything being clearly defined. But some things feel a bit too resolved and others less so.Ash makes a LOT of progress in their feelings towards themselves and their gender, maybe unrealistically so, in the single week the book's events take place. And at times, it felt more like a switch was flipped and less like a gradual move in that direction. They spend most of the book defining themselves pretty strictly along binary lines and then change their attitude and feelings almost entirely after one conversation with a specific character. There were indications Ash was moving in that direction but I felt it wasn't seeded out well enough across the entire narrative, enough for it to feel balanced and like a gradual revelation as opposed to a fairly abrupt one. I understand that single conversations with people who truly get you can really change how you see things. And the ending we arrive at is satisfying, to see Ash come so far (I loved the last page specifically!). But it felt like narratively it would have sat better with me if Ash was coming to a tentative realisation of who they are by the end of the book instead of being completely confident in themselves. Or, at the very least, we spent more time on that open-but-tentative stage.It also feels like Daniel's own challenges go somewhat unresolved - as an emotionally intense person myself, it would have been great to see an adult give him resources or guidance on how to more specifically handle his intense emotions so that he doesn't have to be ashamed of them, but they also don't control or impede his life. It might have been nice to see him consider therapy, or counselling, or even just some mental or emotional practices to help manage his feelings. He's going through a huge change but has very little tangible support to deal with it. But most of what he receives is validation and encouragement to channel his emotions into things he's passionate about, which is helpful but wouldn't necessarily resolve the issue of his intense emotional responses.Overall these things didn't much affect my enjoyment of the book. I've read books like this that just didn't stick for me, because of the characters or writing style, or plot, or themes just weren't executed in a way that I liked. But this book just really spoke to me, and all of those things came together in a beautiful orchestra of cohesion that only Ash could capture in one of their drawings.I needed this book when I was younger. I needed to see kids like Ash and Daniel be loved and appreciated for who they are, in all their messy beautiful humanity. I'm glad I have it now.

Loved it i really felt the characters and could connect with them

My daughter really loved this book. She kept saying " I hate for it to be over!"Next we will order Jules Machias' other book called Fight + Flight 🙂