Donna Gephart

Dunkin Dorfman, birth name Norbert Dorfman, is dealing with bipolar disorder and has just moved from the New Jersey town hes called home for the past thirteen years. This would be hard enough, but the fact that he is also hiding from a painful secret makes it even worse.

Lily and Dunkin

Jeannette Ordas

A very sweet read about an 8th grader with bipolar and his friendship with Lily who is just starting to come out as trans. Charming & well done. 4.5 stars.

jess

I noticed this book a long time ago and put it on my watch list. And I tried to get it, for months. And here we are. I've got it. And man, it was definitely worth the wait and lived up to my (high) expectations. This is one of my favorite middle-grades I've read. It deals with some very, very complex and hard issues that aren't talked about in middle grade--gender identity, mental illness, (view spoiler)[suicide (hide spoiler)], but I'd say it's appropriate for the upper bit of middle grade. The content is a bit more mature than other trans girl middle grades (Gracefully Grayson and George) and it straddles the line between MG and YA pretty nicely. 

As for the characters - they were so good and endearing and so, so, real. I liked that while Lily's transition and Dunkin's bipolar disorder were definitely large parts of the plot and to an extent these issues were a defining part of them, it wasn't just about those subjects. They're fully fledged characters. Lily is trans, but she's not just trans. Dunkin is bipolar, but he's not just bipolar. It was really nice. (view spoiler)[Also: I was shipping Dare/Amy so hard through the book and it made me so happy that they were revealed to be a couple in the end. (hide spoiler)]

I really couldn't stop reading once I started this book. There's a lot going on, but it's juggled quite well. Lily's subplot with the tree was really nice, (view spoiler)[and it really did break my heart when Bob was cut down, IN FRONT OF LILY AND US. We'd spent so much time building up to it and Lily stayed so long to try to save her tree but. They still CUT IT DOWN AND I CAN'T BELIEVE I FEEL THIS MUCH FOR A TREE. Anyway. (hide spoiler)] I cried happy tears at the end.

Lily and Dunkin

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