Summary:This book is about Norbert and Timothy, both who are entering 8th grade with some really heavy baggage. Tim has known most of her life that she was born a girl but is trapped in a boy’s body. She wants to be called Lily. Norbert prefers to be called Dunkin.He is bipolar and just moved in from town. One day Lily went outside to help her dad with grocery bags while wearing a dress.Dunkin was mesmerized by those blue eyes on the first day of school.This is where their friendship begins.Norbert joins the basketball team. He’s really tall. The basketball players are the ones who are picking on Lily the most. Lily learns that Dunkin is bipolar when he goes off his medication in hopes of being a better basketball player. Dunkin learns of Lily’s true self later in the story. They are able to be themselves when they are together, no matter how the world sees them. Lily’s mother and sister have come to accept and love Lily for who she is but her father on the other hand is having a very difficult time with this reality.
Gephart, D. (2016). Lily and Dunkin. NY: Delacorte.
Commentary: This book is a brutally honest and open book about a some really sensitive and timely topics. It is real and something that teenagers will be able to see themselves in. If anything it will give readers a better understanding and hopefully empathy toward everyone, because you never know what a person is truly dealing with. Connections: I would consider this book a Realistic Fiction novel that addresses two really tough topics, transgender and mental illness, specifically bipolar issues. Both of these secrets that the characters are keeping are ingrained in who they are. Dealing with these things and the emotional scars they leave are a lot for any person to handle, let alone teenagers in middle school.
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