
Rethinking Normal
A Memoir in Transition
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers · Print & ebook · September 29, 2015
In her unique, generous, and affecting voice, nineteen-year-old Katie Rain Hill shares her personal journey of undergoing gender reassignment.
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- Who it’s for
- A candid coming-of-age memoir about gender, pressure to seem normal, and claiming a life that fits.
- Themes
- Gender identity, Bullying and resilience, Coming of age
- Pacing
- Reflective
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For older readers: It Never Goes Away, Transitioning Later in Life, American Teenager
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Start with this bookAbout this book
In her unique, generous, and affecting voice, nineteen-year-old Katie Rain Hill shares her personal journey of undergoing gender reassignment. Now with a reading group guide! Katie Rain Hill realized very young that a serious mistake had been made; she was a girl who had been born in the body of a boy. Suffocating under her peers’ bullying and the mounting pressure to be “normal,” Katie tried to take her life at the age of eight years old.
Continue reading
After several other failed attempts, she finally understood that “Katie”—the girl trapped within her—was determined to live. In this first-person account, Katie reflects on her pain-filled childhood and the events leading up to the life-changing decision to undergo gender reassignment as a teenager. She reveals the unique challenges she faced while unlearning how to be a boy and shares what it was like to navigate the dating world—and experience heartbreak for the first time—in a body that matched her gender identity. Told in an unwaveringly honest voice, Rethinking Normal is a coming-of-age story about transcending physical appearances and redefining the parameters of “normalcy” to embody one’s true self.
An Honest Becoming
A candid coming-of-age memoir about gender, pressure to seem normal, and claiming a life that fits.
Come here for
- A first-person account of growing up amid bullying and expectations
- Reflections on transition, identity, and first heartbreak
Expect
- An unwaveringly honest, personal voice
- A story that considers what “normal” leaves out
Where it sits
| YA Transgender | 97% |
|---|---|
| LGBTQ+ Biographies | 49% |
| Bullying for Teens | 33% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- LGBTQ+ for Teens
- Bullying for Teens
- Self-Esteem & Independence for Teens
- Authors
- Katie Rain Hill
- Publisher
- Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Published
- September 29, 2015
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Gender identity · Bullying and resilience · Coming of age
- Reading lane
- LGBTQ+ for Teens