Sunday 1 December 2019

REVIEW - I AM WATER BY MEG SPECKSGOOR

Title: I Am Water
Author: Meg Specksgoor
Genre: Children's Fiction, Teens & YA
Publisher: West 44 Books
Release Date: 1st December 2019

BLURB from Goodreads
Hannah works as the only female river-rafting guide in her closed-minded small town. Labeled a tomboy, she often struggles to reconcile the way she fits into normal gender stereotypes. Hannah meets Ezra, who blurs the lines between woman and man. They begin an exciting new relationship, but soon Ezra starts pushing Hannah's limits and her definition of love.


PURCHASE LINKS

REVIEW
I guess if you have visited my blog before you know that I love the idea of the Hi-Lo books and that they encourage people to read who perhaps aren't as good at it as others. My understanding of Hi Lo books are they have high interest plot, yet use less complicated wording. 

In this book the main themes are gender stereotypes, and coming of age. Hannah is the main character who has always been labelled as a "tomboy". Hannah is the only female river rafting guide, so she is used to taking the tours and having male tourists try to take over, thinking they know more than a young female who in their opinion doesn't know what she is doing. Hannah is friends with Sam who people also think of as an "oddball" or more of a "loner" "outsider". Sam likes watching fire and always has a lighter with him. In fact, he has a habit of flicking the lighter on and off. Hannah and Sam have their routine of going for a milkshake every Friday. They take it in turns to choose the milkshake flavour, then they go down by the water and light a fire and sit round it talking, it is kind of like their ritual. 


Their routine, rituals and relationship end up being disturbed when a new boy turns up at school. The new boy is Ezra, who dresses differently, he doesn't easily fit into a female or male stereotype. Ezra refuses to conform to wearing what people consider male clothing, he wears floaty scarves and wears make up and glitter to adorn himself. 

I was quite surprised that a book listed as children's fiction, would cover such a difficult, some would say controversial subject.  Though on the other hand the book deals with the subject of gender fluidity which seems to be covered in the news and in TV programmes more and more at the moment too. I think the book handles the subject very well and it made an interesting and informative read.
I loved the reference of purple being a mixture of pink and blue so making it the perfect colour to represent gender fluidity. I think this book would be a great conversation starter for teens or anyone who feels they are gender fluid.



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