31orge, by Alex Gino, is a heartwarming and relevant book about a 10-year-old transgender girl, who transitions from being named George to Melissa.  It is also a deep and great representation of both the hate and love George gets for being a transgender girl and in my opinion, is realistic to the experiences of transgender people in today's world. 

During the beginning of George, we are introduced to George’s mom and Scott. George’s mom is a person who does her very best to support her children but was confused about George being born in the wrong body. George’s older brother Scott fits the stereotype of a masculine teenager, who shows to be a very loving character later in the book.  Then we are introduced to Kelly, Jeff, and Rick. Kelly, George’s best friend is a very caring and understanding friend, but at first, Kelly was not getting the hints of who George really was. We are also introduced to Jeff and Rick, George’s bullies, who always call her a girl and make fun of her and Kelly.

As the book progressed, George transformed from a very buttoned-up person to someone who was proud and not afraid to show who she truly is. At the beginning of the book, George stole comics of girls wearing feminine clothing from her mom, to get a sense of what a girl is like. Unlike at the beginning of the book where George fantasized over those things, she is now able to dress as a girl and actually embody being a girl. In my opinion is a really good representation of imagining being what you want can give you the hope that you can be just that.

As I read George I felt exhilarated for George to continue to come out as transgender and for her to be accepted by the people who matter most. During the book, Jeff and Rick, the bullies, call George a girl and point out her feminine traits, but we never knew if she was offended by these words because the plot of the story is that George is in fact a transgender girl. This form of bullying showed how Jeff was transphobic. A different conception of the central idea of George is how accepting people for who they are and changing yourself rather than trying to change others is a greater choice.

Before reading George, I didn’t really understand how many people treat transgender people. I knew that LGBTQ+ people are usually profiled as being an exaggeration of being gothic or “alternative”, but this book showed me an up-close view of how coming out as transgender can be difficult because of the communities that people live in where being LGBTQ+ may be forbidden. It also conveys the fact that there are people in the world who go through the same struggles as George such as the courage it takes to tell people that you are the opposite gender, not knowing if your loved ones would accept you or would entirely kick you out of their lives, or even not accepting yourself for who you are in your brain. Following reading this book, people should take it as an indication to be kind and supportive to people who are coming out/have already come out as transgender and show that they are accepted for who they are.