Title: Gender Queer: A Memoir
Author: Maia Kobabe
ISBN: 9781549304002
Publisher: Oni Press
Copyright Date: 2019
Genre: LGBTQIA+, Memoir, Non-fiction
Format: Graphic Novel
Reading Level/Interest Level: Grades 10+
Awards or Honors:
ALA Alex Award Winner (2020)
Stonewall Award: Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book (2020)
Plot Summary
A comic memoir Maia had no intention of writing, Gender Queer details the story of eir childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. Homeschooled until First Grade, many of Maia’s experiences at school involved teachers and classmates enforcing gender binaries, which Maia’s parents did not raise em under. Maia consistently felt confused by these “rules” that e was not aware of, and this especially came true when e hit puberty. Crushes and questioning of eir gender and sexual orientation led to lots of confusion during this time, but Maia found solace in the Queer-Straight Alliance club in high school and bonding with friends over Lord of the Rings.
Things seemed to click for Maia when eir sister mentioned that she thought of Maia as a “genderless person” (Kobabe, 2019), but despite this, the road to identity was still full of bumps. As Maia got older, e grappled with dating, which e was not interested in but wanted to try for the sake of the fanfiction e was writing. Over the course of eir gender identity journey, Maia was able to come out to eir parents as nonbinary and bisexual, as well as introduce eir pronouns (e/em/eir). Maia explains that e wrote this memoir to express eir gender journey to primarily friends and family, and ultimately, readers.
Author Background
Maia Kobabe (e/em/eir) is a writer and illustrator who graduated from California College in San Francisco with an MFA in Comics. Before eir work as a freelance artist, e worked in libraries for over 10 years and has self-published many comics and zines. Maia’s short comics have been published in 14 different anthologies as well as in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The Nib. Gender Queer: A Memoir is Maia’s first full-length novel. (Kobabe, n.d.)
Critical Evaluation
This graphic novel is a beautiful exploration of identity and finding your place in the world in a non-linear journey. I loved the art style of this piece and the way the author used a combination of different sized panels to articulate eir story. One of my favorite parts of this work was the full-page character portraits where Maia highlighted someone important in eir life and provide details and facts about them. The balance of images with text was perfectly done with not too much and not too little. There was something almost retro about the color choices and the use of rich, earth tones in contrast with other pastel colors was incredibly beautiful.
Teens will be drawn to this book for Maia’s absolute honesty in portraying what must have been a hard time in eir life, all to better express eir identity and help others who may be in a similar place. This book is representative of many different facets of the queer community and I think teens who are either part of this community, questioning their own identity, or looking to learn more to support friends or family will find it incredibly valuable.
There are some powerful images in this memoir that will stick with me for a long time. Maia’s first period and eir nightmares about it are actually ones I have had myself, and eir traumatizing experiences at the doctor are shocking but so, so relatable. Seeing Maia’s journey of eir physical traits was another powerful aspect that can only be done through images. We see Maia’s transformation over time as e gained more understanding of eir gender identity and how that translates into clothing, hair cuts, and jewelry. Maia has shared a big piece of emself through this memoir and I honestly feel honored that I was able to experience reading this graphic novel.
Creative Use for a Library Program
Set up a comics workshop to teach teens how to make their own life stories into a comic, just like Maia did. Teens can use this program to both explore their artistic style, whether they are seasoned artists or not, as well as express themselves and their experiences.
Speed-Round Book Talk
A stunning work of art and storytelling by illustrator Maia Kobabe, Gender Queer: A Memoir tells the story of Maia’s life journey in discovering eir gender and sexual identity. Through the power of reading, finding eir passion in comics, and relying on eir supportive sister through it all, Maia navigates childhood, puberty, and young adulthood as a nonbinary, queer person seeking eir true identity.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation
As many readers might already know, Gender Queer has been reported as the ALA’s most challenged book of 2021: “for LGBTQIA+ content and because it was considered to have sexually explicit images” (Albanese, 2022). There is a long list of locations of challenges and libraries where this book was pulled from shelves, as well as countless news reports and interviews regarding this decision (or lack thereof, in the cases where this item has been pulled from shelves without going through the proper avenues). Having actually read this graphic novel, I find these challenges incredibly frustrating. There is ONE image that may be considered sexual (which has actually been taken out of context), and a few others that depict the naked human body in non-sexual ways. Censorship is never something the library has stood for in the past and it saddens me that this graphic novel is being removed from teens who may desperately need it to help understand their own identities. It is not up to individuals to determine what all teens are or are not allowed to read and removing a book based on one image or because certain people do not approve of LGBTQIA+ communities is not something that should be supported by libraries.
Reason for Inclusion
I actually chose this book for my collection after scrolling through my local library’s online collection of manga and graphic novels, without any knowledge of the challenges or press it has recently received. What started out as a mission to replace a title in my collection that I mistakenly thought was a graphic novel ended up being a conscious decision to include an amazing piece that has helped me better understand gender identity as well as the ability to speak against the challenges that are circulating.
References
Albanese, A. (2022, April 4). ALA releases top 10 most challenged books of 2021. Publisher’s Weekly. https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/libraries/article/88932-ala-releases-top-10-most-challenged-books-of-2021.html
Crane, T. (n.d.). Maia Kobabe [Photograph]. Wernick & Pratt Agency. https://wernickpratt.com/client/maia-kobabe/
Kobabe, M. (n.d.). About. Maia Kobabe. https://redgoldsparkspress.com/about
Kobabe, M. (2019a). Gender queer: A memoir [Cover image]. Oni Press. Retrieved from https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Gender-Queer-A-Memoir/Maia-Kobabe/9781549304002
Kobabe, M. (2019b). Gender queer: A memoir [Image]. Oni Press.
Kobabe, M. (2021). Opinion: Schools are banning my book. But queer kids need queer stories
[Image]. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/10/29/schools-are-banning-my-book-queer-kids-need-queer-stories/
MamaP. [@mamaplife]. (n.d.). Comment below 🌈 [Image]. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/377246906295450362/
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