THE BEAUTIFUL SOMETHING ELSE

A nonbinary middle schooler discovers themself.

Sparrow has too many responsibilities for a 12-year-old. They move towns a lot, and their mom has lots of rules but few resources. Mom struggles with addiction and isn’t supportive of Sparrow’s burgeoning feelings about gender, but before settling into exploring that dynamic, the story shifts abruptly when Mom gets into an accident, is sent to rehab, and Sparrow goes home with an estranged family member. At first, they think that Aunt Mags is married to their Uncle Cameron, who “ran off to a fancy college and came back weird,” but readers quickly learn that Aunt Mags is Sparrow’s trans aunt, who inherited the family estate and renamed it the Rainbow House (painted to match). Sparrow is thrust into a carefully constructed world of diverse adults who always know exactly the right things to say and do, unusually mature kids who monologue about their feelings, internet searches through which Sparrow figures out that they’re nonbinary, and a magical companion called Shadow, attached for some reason to a gender-affirming pair of boots, whose helpful presence is never quite explained. Sparrow and their family are White; some supporting characters are described as having brown skin. With direct exposition about being a parentified child, this story will be healing for some and feel overly contrived to others.

An earnest and well-intentioned tale.