North of Tomboy

North of Tomboy is a middle-grade novel that is set in 1973 and follows fourth grader Jess Jezowski, who feels a lot more boy than girl. Jess’s mom has given her another baby doll for Christmas, so Jess takes things into her own hands and transforms the doll into a boy, representing who she’s always wanted to be. The doll’s name is Mickey, and using him, Jess is finally able to express herself. But over time, Mickey starts drowning out Jess’s voice, and she’s worried that others outside of her family are going to find out about his existence. Jess recognizes that she must find a way to integrate Mickey into herself so she can share that side of herself with everyone, but she’s having a hard time with this. Will she be able to stop hiding behind Mickey and get her friends and family to see who she really is?

What I Liked: Something that stood out about this book is that while it is fiction, it is based on the author’s experience growing up in Michigan’s rural Leelanau Peninsula in the 70s. The story does a great job of following Jess while she figures out how to express herself in her own body and not using a doll. Mickey is a great tool that Jess is able to use to understand her feelings and share with her family what she needs. This book is engaging throughout as Mickey adds humor to the story, and the illustrations at the top of each chapter bring the chapter to life. These illustrations give you an idea of what is to come in the chapter.

This book took me a while to get into because I had to keep pausing to think about what the book was trying to tell me. It is a much better read when you stop trying to decode the book and just read it for what it is. This book contains a lot of amazing commentary on what being a girl was like in the 70s and how expectations of girls can shape how they view gender. It was fascinating to see how Jess wanted to be a boy because of the treatment that boys got in her family and how she viewed the things that they got to do.

What Left Me Wanting More: While things wrap up beautifully in this story, I wanted more of a conversation between Jess and her family. It would’ve been great for her to outwardly express the things that she was sharing with the reader with her mom and dad. It was great to see that Jess was able to transcend from using Mickey as a vessel to sharing that side of herself with others. Things did wrap up rather quickly between Jess and her family and friends, and some things seemed like they would’ve ended differently. The woman who was gossiping about Jess to others seemed to accept the change rather easily, while the expectation is that she would have more to say. While it was great to see that Jess was embraced for who she is by everyone, there was an expectation that Jess’s friends would respond negatively because of the things that they expressed previously in the story.

Final Verdict: North of Tomboy is an intriguing story about growing up assigned female at birth in the 70s, when gender roles were stricter and there were high expectations for how women were to behave. This book is great for children ages 8 and up to see that girls are capable of doing anything, and that part of others embracing who you are is you embracing yourself. This book is also great for adults, especially those who grew up in the 70s, as they will recognize many of the things that Jess is struggling through just because she is a girl.