Rethinking Normal by Katie Rain Hill

Rethinking Normal

A Memoir in Transition

Katie Rain Hill

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

About 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.

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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 Transgender97%
LGBTQ+ Biographies49%
Bullying for Teens33%

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