Lily and Dunkin

Gephart, D. (2016). Lily and Dunkin. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

Timothy James McGrother is a girl.  He has known he was a girl since before he was 5.  He would like to be called Lily Jo.  Lily’s dad is struggling with wanting to protect Lily from teasing, torment, and other hurts by telling Lily to just act normal…be a boy.

Norbert Dorfman sees Lily as he is walking by in a pretty red dress, but later meets Tim in a tree in front of the library.  Norbert does NOT like his name and Tim gives him the name Dunkin based on Dunkin’ Donuts Norbert happens to love eating.  Both kids are struggling with secrets, Tim, wanting to become Lily, and Dunkin, struggling with bipolar disorder.  Dunkin has even more secrets that he is even unaware of. 

Gephart does an amazing job of introducing us to some tough topics of transgender and bipolar disorder.  She used her own son’s struggle with bipolar to write the character Dunkin.  He has moved in with his mom and grandmother and throughout the book remembers his dad, whom they left in New Jersey, and that his dad is also bipolar.  As he starts to not take his medicine regularly, because it makes him feel fuzzy and sluggish, we also meet Phineas, who is a voice in his head.  Lily is allowed to be Lily at home, but in the public she must revert to Tim.  Her best friend Dare, loves her for who she is and wants Lily to be Lily in public.  It is such a great way to see the struggle between who Lily is and who she has to pretend to be.  Even at one point Tim says it’s too torturous to be Lily in public, so the reader really gets the feel of the struggle.  VERY briefly suicide is introduced.  Lesbianism is also hinted at, but never stated.  There is such a theme of struggling with who you are and being who you are throughout the book along with facing your secrets when you are ready. This one is a tough call for me.  I think it would be okay for 8th grade and up.  I struggle not because of the topic, but because of some of the language (g---d---).

Other books by the author:

Death by Toliet Paper

How to Survive Middle School

Olivia Bean Trivia Queen

As if being 12 ¾ isn’t bad enough, my mother is running for president