Almost Perfect Part 1

***For some reason this didn't post last Thursday. Sorry!!

     This week I was able to choose a book from a a list of five different books. I chose to read Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher which is about someone who is transgender and trying to make the transition from a man to a woman. The theme of this book was definitely LGBTQ (if that can be counted as a theme). Throughout the first half of the novel that I have read once you find out Sage is a transgender you get to more know some of the background. It helps gives more insight into exactly what a transgender is and what exactly leads them to this point. Personally I was not very informed about transgenders. All I knew was what I had head about Caitlyn Jenner and a friend of my dads that has recently decided to make the transition. I did not know many of the details of the decision making process and how the person making the transition actually feels. I feel that it is a very serious issue that does not get as much attention as it needs, people will judge them without first knowing their reasoning. The character that has developed the most throughout the first half of the novel was Logan. When he first discovered that Sage was a transgender he acted harshly and wanted to never see her again. Though once he actually realizes that was a rash decision on his end when Sage tried to stay away from seeing him other than just a friend, he was trying to push the romantic parts of the relationship on her. Once he does this it can be seen that he is actually trying to be a good friend to her and help in other aspects pf her life. He attempts to encourage both her parents to give her more social freedom. An example of this is when her mom will not even let her visit the Mizzou campus which is where she wishes to attend college in the fall. Then Logan talks to her mom about a program to visit for the weekend while chaperoned and her mom starts to sway towards letting her go. So, he attempts to be the best friend he can be after acting harshly about the news of her gender identity. 

     This novel reveals a lot about gender. Honestly most people are not informed about other genders besides themselves. Recently things such as trans gender have somewhat come into the light of social media, but this is only because of Caitlyn Jenner and the two transgender shows on TLC. Without these we would be just as much in the dark as we were a year ago. I think that the younger generations should be informed more about these situations at a younger time in their life. If we had this we would not be so surprised when someone reveals information such as this and would be more prepared and actually know what is being talked about.

     This text positions adolescents such as Logan bad because of the way he reacts when he first finds out that Sage is actually transgender. People reading this would think he is mean and rude to her even though she did nothing wrong. I feel that this would appeal to adolescents since most of the are very misinformed about any sexuality besides the general one which is straight. It should be included in sexual education when people are younger. At least there are books such as this to help them better understand things such as transgender. 

Rating: A