Phenomenal. Incredible. Every time I read Gender Queer it just gets better. Thank you Netgalley for this e-galley, and thank you to Oni for the copies I now have on my shelves.

I opted to read this deluxe edition of Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe after seeing the title on too many banned/challenged book lists to count. I had also seen images (out of context) of the pages that some people consider objectionable. In part, I read the book simply to have a more informed professional opinion. As a librarian, I found it essential to read the whole book and contextualize the most circulated images within Maia's overall story. As a reader, I simply loved this incredible graphic memoir in which the Maia Kobabe shares eir deeply personal experience of gender identity. Gender Queer should be required reading for all librarians and educators who wish to better understand gender identity. Thank you so much to Oni Press for making this Deluxe Edition available as an e-galley!

I absolutely love this book. It really speaks to me as a nonbinary ace person. I think that this is a great book for young folks (queer and otherwise) to read. I'm glad that they are releasing it!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book to review.

I loved this eye-opening and interesting graphic memoir. I know the book itself is not new, but this edition has some great bonus content. Highly recommend to all readers.

This is one of the book I went and bought the physical copy of in the middle of reading it.
This was everything!
First the foreword made me weep, then 99% of this autobiography of a genderqueer person was so relatable I flew through it, forgot time and space and couldn’t put it down until I was done.
This was excellent.
The drawings were wonderful and the colouring was beautiful.
I loved to accompany Maia through er life.
This is a book that will make you think, that will raise questions and that I will think about long after I finished it.


TW: HP references. Yes, it’s a queer, trans autobiography and some of the experiences of this author include HP. I don’t know if it would make sense to cut them out? I think yes and I think it would be the best thing to do for a reprint honestly. The house sorting isn’t essential to the story and instead of putting HP it could just be “a fantasy series for children”.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Despite the controversy surrounding this title, everyone should read it to better understand gender identities. Especially, every person questioning and exploring their gender identity should pick up this graphic novel.. The author recounts eir experience honestly and beautifully as the recount challenging memories throughout the memoir. E has a way of putting words and pictures to feelings and experiences that can be incredibly difficult to parse through. I felt I learned a lot about myself in throughout the course of this graphic novel. This novel provides the reader a lot to think about in regards to how they interact with gender and encourages the reader to feel open in questioning their own gender as well!

OH MY GOD !
That was the most interesting, sensible, heartwarming, sincere biography I ever read !
I don't know where to start, reading Maia's story, what e faced, where e came from and what e does to comprehend em orientation, it was just so... true, instructive and somehow cool because e places words without circling aroud. It an important reading not only for queer people, but also for cis who have the delicacy to not ask but still wish to learn.
I was glad I can read it especialy when author and editor are threaten of banning and sued.
This book must exist and live, and be spread.

A stunning, vulnerable and raw experience with gender expression and growing into yourself. Moving and impossible to put down, the kind of book you can see changing people's lives

I had a friend read it as well and she/they really related to it and it lead to much discussion around their sexuality. This helped them better define themselves, so I cannot praise it enough.

I am thrilled that I got to read this gem of a book. I am appalled that Maia's story has been banned in so many places. It is so important for stories about gender and identity like this to be shared and told. Thank you so much for this review copy.

I had read Gender Queer before, but I was approved for the deluxe edition through @netgalley and decided to read it again! It was well worth the effort!

The deluxe edition of Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe include a new introduction and afterword as well as some exclusive art. I found the additions of the introduction and the afterword to be valuable, especially with the challenges that this book (and others) have faced in schools and libraries across the United States.

Gender Queer is a graphic novel memoir about the author’s journey toward discovering eir gender identity and sexuality. Eventually, Maia discovered the pronouns e/em/eir. Despite this discovery, there were still a lot of challenges, even with family and friends that tried to be open and understanding. I think that this book is great for those that are on their journey toward self-discovery, but it’s also important for those that want to be accepting allies to read and understand this book. I think that Maia really put eir heart and soul into telling this story and I think that it will be beneficial to many teens and adults in the years to come.

#netgally #genderqueer #lgbtbooks #bookstagram #graphicnovels #yagraphicnovels #yabooks #yalit

This was an interesting read. Some parts I found myself identifying with and others not so much. The artwork and the style of writing was quite good. It would be a good book for a book club.

A shockingly truthful and insightful journey through the life of Maia Kobabe. While assigned female at birth, e never felt quite right being called she or her, but didn’t feel like a boy either. This book catalogs the years it took em to learn not only how to identify emself, but how to gain the knowledge and courage to tell those around em.

Coming out was a hard road for me, but when I read a book like Gender Queer, I feel like I don’t know or realize how difficult it is for other people. Maia has a loving and understanding family who wants/wanted to be there for em. But there are so many children and adults that don’t have that luxury. This book definitely made me take an introspective look at myself and the life I’ve had. I imagine any coming out is difficult, but having to explain and teach someone what it means or about your very existence must have been the hardest thing ey would have to do in eir life.

I feel like I learned so much about gender from this book and can definitely understand why it won so many awards. I feel like this should be required reading, not only in school, but just in life. Learning to be compassionate and caring to those around you should be a course taught in school and Gender Queer should be on the syllabus!

Please note: This post contains affiliate links.
Trigger Warnings: Dysphoria, Medical Trauma, Transphobia, Sexual Content.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is the only graphic novel in this year’s Pride Month coverage and a powerful memoir by a non-binary author who uses e/em/eir pronouns. This autobiographical story is intensely personal and begins during Kobabe’s childhood. Despite growing up in a liberal household, they still spent many years growing ever more confused by eir feelings toward gender identity and eir own body. Over the course of the book, we get to see em make discoveries that help em figure out what makes em most comfortable, and watch as they grow into a proud non-binary adult.

As well as struggling with eir body and gender identity, Kobabe also struggled with eir sexuality and sex drive. Gender Queer dives into how it can take time to figure out exactly what you want from relationships (if you even want them to begin with). Asexuality and aromanticism are both explored, but a key point made throughout the entire book is that labels aren’t always—or often—a perfect fit. Trying to fit themself into predefined boxes often made Kobabe feel miserable and even “broken” at times, and it wasn’t until they began exploring outside of those boxes that they began to figure out just who they were and grow happier with eir body and relationships.

However, this was not an easy journey, and there are some incredibly harrowing moments throughout the book. Kobabe’s first experience going for a pap smear was especially traumatic and resonated with me more than I expected, as I suspect it might for many of us who have had to undergo that procedure while uncomfortable with our bodies and sexualities. Other difficult moments included shopping for undergarments, exploring masturbation, and dating. While all these moments are difficult to read, they are handled beautifully and with a sense of both solidarity and the knowledge that things will eventually get better.

Gender Queer isn’t an especially easy book to read but it is a powerful one. If anyone you know is struggling with gender identity or has transitioned in the past, I cannot recommend any better book for helping you understand the challenges they face every day, and if you yourself are questioning your identity, then Gender Queer will be a comforting voice from someone who has walked the same paths. Even if neither of these is true for you, with gender identity politics making headlines every day, this is as close as you’ll get to walking in the shoes of those facing challenges to their very existence every day.

GeekMom received a copy of this title for review purposes.

Gender Queer is a viscerally honest memoir about the author's life and their struggles with their gender growing up. The story was conveyed with beautiful art, empathy and openness. It felt like times as I was reading someone spill their heart onto the pages of their diary and I felt almost guilty about seeing them so naked and raw. Gender Queer was incredibly impactful and eye-opening, both about the author's personal journey as well as different facets of queerness and gender in general. Maybe it was because the author is only a few years older than me I felt we had a lots in common when it came to things like exploring fandom and shipping with friends. It was fun and relatable to read about something I too was so familiar with.

But the end of the comic I felt a strange sense of closeness with the author, like I too had experienced some of the trials and tribulations with her. They are very talented in evoking a great deal of empathy from the reader and tell their story in such a impactful way. Gender Queer is a story you will carry with you long after you've finished the last page.

Overall I highly recommend reading this graphic novel if you get the chance! It's an unmissable experience.

First I want to thank netgally !
This graphic novel is poetic, touching and funny. If you're looking for a book about queerness and specially about gender queerness, this novel is for you. This graphic novel is a memoire about author's journey into gender queerness. As an LGBTQ+ person, I research queer representation and this book really helped me understanding gender identity.
In this book, we follow Maia growing up questioning eir identity and discovering emselves. It's also about going through adolescence: physical change, gender dysphoria but also love and crushes. Growing up being queer is a journey and this graphic novel describes it perfectly.
It also shows how queer representation in books and pop culture are important and educating.
I really loved reading this book and I think that every queer people or allies should read it !

Diversity alert: queergender, bisexuality, coming out, asexuality

It was such a good and important book! I did not expect it to make such an impression on me.

Before I started reading, I didn't know it was an autobiography, but this awareness made me feel all the emotions so much more! There is a lot of sadness and confusion in this novel, but there is also a lot of hope in it. This story helps to realize how queer people feel and what they struggle with. It made me understand non-binary people much better.

This graphic novel should be read by every young person - especially those who are looking for themselves! I highly recommend it.

The importance of these stories cannot be overstated. I am glad to see this previously published work receiving a re-release on the heels of its placement on the ALA Top Ten Banned Books List for 2021.

The first time Gender queer got published, I missed the NetGalley archive date and didn't get a chance to read it even though I had been approved for it, and I've been beating myself up over it since. I'm so glad they came with a deluxe edition because I couldn't have gone without this book for much longer tbh.

This is exactly what it promised to be: a memoir about the author's relationship with gender. I gravitate towards a lot of the stuff e said here, from gender feelings to sexuality feelings to the fear of doctor's appointments. I just got out of Loveless by Alice Oseman last night, and I'm queer myself, so the lesser known queer identities feels are big on my right now lol. Pardon me if I don't make sense.

On the technical part: the drawings are beautiful, clear and expressive. When the author said e has a masters on comics I was lowkey glad because if not, e was probably a comic wizard. The story flows perfectly and seamlessly from childhood to teenage years to college and beyond. The colors were perfect, the text read alright and there wasn't a lot of info dumping on queer issues, as there tends to be in stories like this. Which is fine, but the author finds a more organic way of weaving them throughout the whole book.

I recently devoured Gender Queer. What a brilliant piece. Maia Kobabe gives me even more courage to be the most authentic version of myself.

"Some people are born in mountains while others are born by the sea. Some people are happy to live in the place they were born, while others must make a journey to reach the climate in which they can flourish and grow!"

Gender Queer is a graphic memoir that describes Kobabe’s journey of gender and sexuality. E grew up in a family that allowed em to explore eir sexuality in whatever way e chose, but the real world would not give em that freedom. How do you take up space in a society that considers your identity political? How do you exist in a body that feels wrong, like an itchy sweater that you just want to take off? How do you educate those around you on your identity?