Old neighbor, new friend,
her body is a boy’s, but she is herself,
who else understands?
Momma taken by cancer and Dad who knows where, now all the family that Finch has is her unemployed stepfather and his new wife.
Most folks in their small northern California town think of her as a boy, but “you’re what you are in your head and heart, Finch, not what it says on your birth certificate,” Maddy assures the nearly 12-year-old as they care for rehabilitating wildlife together (p. 16).
Wondering if the scared yellow dog will ever come nearer than the food bowl at the edge of the woods, if Finch can locate her father again, if her new friend Sherri will stay friends….
Then her stepfather’s pastor suggests sending Finch to camp that will ‘cure’ her to match her birth body, Maddy is injured, and Animal Control traps the yellow dog!
Finch has to stay strong, stay true to herself, and find a way to get both Maddy and the dog Ben home.
How can we support trans friends and others whose families pressure them to conform?
**kmm
Book info: Freeing Finch / Ginny Rorby. Starscape (Macmillan), 2019. [author site] [publisher site] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.
