**STARRED REVIEW** "Dean’s journey is tender, emotional, honest, and unafraid to face both the pain and joy of coming out. Through Dean’s authentic and hopeful voice, Stoeve expertly crafts a powerful exploration of who we can become when we have the courage to choose our own paths."
"Each new step—changing his pronouns, getting a chest binder—makes him feel more comfortable in his body, as does acceptance by his best friend and the new friends he makes in a support group. Dean authentically and accessibly describes his experience as a trans man... Dean’s story demonstrates the courage that it takes to come out."
An astounding debut overflowing with heart. Stoeve beautifully captures the world of high school theater as much as they also give teens a story about the pitfalls of holding others to impossible, unfair standards. I spent the whole book rooting for Dean and his incredible group of friends. This is exactly the kind of book I needed long, long ago.
author of Anger is a Gift and Each of Us a Desert Mark Oshiro
Between Perfect and Real perfectly captures the rollercoaster ride of being a queer high school senior. Stoeve gives voice to the heartbreaks and triumphs of regular kid life in that time when we're all trying to figure out who we've been, who we are, and who we want to be. A beautiful read.
writer and Tony Award-winning actor Daisy Eagan
"Stoeve perfectly encapsulates the experience of a teen’s trans awakening. . .This #ownvoices verse Bildungsroman is an invaluable guidebook for readers in a state of gender self-realization."
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Between Perfect and Real manages to be both powerful and feel like a warm hug, written with love for every trans and nonbinary young reader, offering guidance on their paths. Informative and hopeful, I know that this book will change and save lives. A beautiful debut!
National Book Award winner Kacen Callender
Thoughtful, honest, and full of hope. Ray Stoeve’s Between Perfect and Real is bursting at the seams with so many of my favorite things: friendship, community, and theatre.
author of We Used to Be Friends Amy Spalding
"Stoeve's Between Perfect and Real is a funny, heartfelt and utterly enchanting debut that explores all the complexities of teenagehood–love, friendship, identity, and what it means to be brave. An outstanding and necessary new voice in the YA canon!"
author of Tyler Johnson Was Here and Things We Cou Jay Coles
"Dramatic, hilarious, and heartbreaking. I fell for these characters so hard."
bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best Mason Deaver
Between Perfect and Real manages to be both powerful and feel like a warm hug, written with love for every trans and nonbinary young reader, offering guidance on their paths. Informative and hopeful, I know that this book will change and save lives. A beautiful debut!”—Kacen Callender, National Book Award winner Between Perfect and Real is bursting at the seams with so many of my favorite things: friendship, community, and theatre.”—Amy Spalding, author of We Used to Be Friends Mason Deaver, bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best Mark Oshiro, author of Anger is a Gift and Each of Us a Desert Between Perfect and Real perfectly captures the rollercoaster ride of being a queer high school senior. Stoeve gives voice to the heartbreaks and triumphs of regular kid life in that time when we're all trying to figure out who we've been, who we are, and who we want to be. A beautiful read.”—Daisy Eagan, writer and Tony Award-winning actor Between Perfect and Real is a funny, heartfelt and utterly enchanting debut that explores all the complexities of teenagehood–love, friendship, identity, and what it means to be brave. An outstanding and necessary new voice in the YA canon!"—Jay Coles, author of Tyler Johnson Was Here and Things We Couldn't Say Kirkus Reviews Booklist The Horn Book Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books School Library Journal
An astounding debut overflowing with heart. Stoeve beautifully captures the world of high school theater as much as they also give teens a story about the pitfalls of holding others to impossible, unfair standards. I spent the whole book rooting for Dean and his incredible group of friends. This is exactly the kind of book I needed long, long ago.
author Anger is a Gift and Each of Us a Desert Mark Oshiro
05/07/2021
Gr 7 Up —When Dean is unexpectedly cast as Romeo in the high school play, he realizes that he's a trans man. The plot follows the five-act structure of Romeo and Juliet as Dean goes through the process of finding himself and coming out all over again during rehearsals and performances for the play. Throughout the story, Dean's friends, girlfriend, and drama teacher affirm his identity, with some challenges, while Dean's parents struggle more with the news. While Dean is bullied by one classmate and has a fight with his mom, by and large the adults and teens in his life range from moderately to extremely supportive, and while no one else in Dean's life or school is trans, he is able to find a trans community in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. Dean's process of figuring out his identity and his love of acting will be relatable to many teens, and Stoeve does not shy away from the nuances of navigating life after coming out. Dean and his family are identified as white, while his friends have a variety of racial identities. VERDICT A coming-out story with a nod to Romeo and Juliet . Recommended for purchase.—Kelsey Socha, Westfield Athenaeum, Westfield, MA
The theme of self-discovery drives this realistic audiobook featuring Dean, a high school thespian who has recently realized he is transgender. Playing Romeo in a nontraditional school production of ROMEO AND JULIET inspires Dean to recognize that masculinity isn't just a role for him—it’s what he is. So he begins the complicated and ever-continuing process of coming out as trans. MW Cartozian Wilson narrates Dean's story in husky, serious tones, shifting easily into deadpan humor and high-stakes emotions. Other characters’ voices are mostly understated, allowing Dean's voice and perspective to take center stage. Trans listeners hoping for a sense of authenticity will find it here, and listeners of all kinds will root for Dean as he grows into his true self and looks to the future. R.A.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
The theme of self-discovery drives this realistic audiobook featuring Dean, a high school thespian who has recently realized he is transgender. Playing Romeo in a nontraditional school production of ROMEO AND JULIET inspires Dean to recognize that masculinity isn't just a role for him—it’s what he is. So he begins the complicated and ever-continuing process of coming out as trans. MW Cartozian Wilson narrates Dean's story in husky, serious tones, shifting easily into deadpan humor and high-stakes emotions. Other characters’ voices are mostly understated, allowing Dean's voice and perspective to take center stage. Trans listeners hoping for a sense of authenticity will find it here, and listeners of all kinds will root for Dean as he grows into his true self and looks to the future. R.A.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine
2021-01-26
Now he needs to decide what to do about it. Dean lives in Seattle and has a loving girlfriend, Zoe, and a vivacious best friend, Ronnie. The three have big plans for college in New York City, but first they have one more year of high school. As a senior, Dean finally has a chance at a lead role, and, to his delight and astonishment, he’ll get to play Romeo. As far as everyone knows, Dean is a tomboy lesbian, but he comes to realize that he’s actually a transgender boy. The plot is arranged into five roughly Shakespearean acts, following Dean’s process of self-realization, coming out, facing transphobic bullying, and redefining his relationship with Zoe. The characters ponder a variety of queer-related topics, such as the intersection of race and sexuality (Ronnie is Black and gay; Dean and Zoe are White), toxic masculinity, and the transition of a romantic partner. In a rare and refreshing move, the author altogether avoids revealing Dean’s given name—Dean is a shortened version Ronnie came up with years earlier—and does not narratively humiliate or exploit him. Not settling for pat, one-dimensional explanations, the story is honest about the uncertainty, self-consciousness, confusion, and fear that can accompany transition while being validating and supportive of its trans protagonist.
An authentic and optimistic trans coming-out story. (Fiction. 14-18)
