I Am J is a strong, inspiring book
that has a powerful message you won’t forget. The book is about a 17 year
old trans-gendered teenager called J. Born as a girl, with the body of a girl, but having an unquestionable knowledge that he is a boy. The book tells you about a
few months of J’s life where he struggles to find out who he is and how he can
be himself. He has to deal with his parents trying to understand about what he
is, and difficult relationships with friends and people he loves. In the end he
finds other people like him and makes firm friends. He starts becoming a man
and his parents begin to come to terms with him.
I loved the
book and could hardly put it down. I have never read this style and genre before so it was a first, but it has definitely made me want to read more! It
was quite a nice, gentle, easy read in the first two chapters, introducing
J and telling us a bit about him. There was still enough detail to make you
stop and think, which made a reader want to carry on but didn't make the story too
heavy too soon. This, I thought, was a very good way to start a book, because I
was drawn straight into the story without having to concentrate too hard.
After the
opening chapters the book started to get a bit heavier. Chris Beam starts to go
deeper into J’s feelings and how he is finding out more about himself. This
really made me think and I started to get really stuck in the book. It was
almost like I was in the book with J, seeing what he was going through. As you
read on it gets more and more serious and J starts making bigger decisions. At
this point I was glued to the book and my brain was frazzled from all the
concepts and deep meaningful events, there was so much information and things
going on I was having to read at half my normal speed to take every tiny detail
in. There was never a point in the book where I was bored or skipped a part, I
was gripped the whole time.
The book, as
well as being an amazing read, was educational as well. I learnt a lot and
everything was cleverly explained so you wouldn't have known it was being
explained, I just thought it was part of the story. I think Chris Beam wrote
the book excellently because it was so real it could have been a biography.
Also it is a book for a wide range of ages as my dad has read it and found it a
good and powerful read, and so have I, but in different ways to him.
It is definitely a book I would recommend to lots of people if they really want to get stuck in
quite a deep, heavy read that leaves you pondering and talking over it days
after you have read it.
Anya Y9
If you have a book that you'd like to review for the blog, send your submission to library@bgs.bristol.sch.uk