Tiff's Reviews > Girl Mans Up

Review originally posted on Mostly YA Lit:


I was really excited to read Girl Mans Up by M.E. Girard because I’ve never read a novel with a gender-fluid character. I was fortunate enough to meet the author at an event at Harper Collins Canada a few weeks ago, and she’d given me the scoop: Pen is a girl who has no interest in being a boy. She happens to dress “masculine” and likes girls, but she’s not transgender. She’s okay in her body. It’s the people around her, including her parents and some of her friends, who are constantly putting the pressure on for Pen to “define” herself as a girl or boy.

What’s interesting about this character is that she IS that okay with herself. There isn’t that much self-consciousness about her body, or about what she likes. Instead of feeling ashamed of who she is, right from the beginning, Pen owns her identity, her look, and her likes and dislikes. Her voice is distinctive, authentic, and unique in YA and M.E. Girard nails it. That's the best part of this book. The synopsis doesn't do justice to just how realistic it all feels - as a girl from an immigrant family who grew up in a community kind of like Pen's, I really understood her. While I never felt as gender-fluid as Pen might feel, I did have parents who had definite ideas of what a "girl" and a "boy" should look and act like.  

While the book itself slowed down about two-thirds of the way through (it was long for a YA book), the characters sing, from Pen's brother and family to her newfound crush and friends. It's a strong debut, and I'll definitely be looking for Girard's next novel.