A teen girl is forced to move annually since her dad (a famous movie star) is found out by paparazzi each place they go. In their newest community she becomes friends with a recently out trans boy in her school & the friendship with slightly romantic undertones is very, very sweet. I love that the her concern is really just whether she's ready to have an actual boyfriend & not at all about the fact that this particular boy is trans. ( )

I love the beautiful cover of a humpback whale! Natalia Rose Baleine Gallagher and her famous actor Dad, XAN GALLAGHER (always in caps!) have moved for the umpteenth time to escape the paparazzi. Their newest home is Sooke, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. They live in a motor home for ease of travel, and so they must be minimalists as they don't have room for too much "stuff." Also, XAN is very eco-minded. I loved Nat and XAN's loving relationship, full of humor and fun. There are many references to "girl stuff" (periods, getting boobs) that may deter boys from reading this, but it's reality, and good to have out in the open. Nat's good friend, Harry (born female Harriet) is transgender. Nat and XAN are more accepting of him than his parents. A vacation in Mexico helps Harry's parents see his point of view. Nat also likes learning new languages (her goal is to learn every language in the world!), so Rivers inserts words in different languages. (In her afterword, she explains that she'd been collecting words for some time, knowing she'd use them in a story one day.) One of my favorites is Komorebi, the Japanese word for sunlight filtering through trees. Reading this book makes me want to read other books by this author. ( )

The most defining element of Natalia Rose Gallagher’s life is that she’s never met her mother: “You can come out of someone’s body, she thought, and not have that count as meeting them.” Nat knows she could probably find her mother’s name online, since her father is a movie star with a hulking physique and an even bigger personality (think Dwayne Johnson), but she’s afraid of what she’ll learn. As she approaches puberty, though, Nat desperately needs somebody. After moving from California to Canada and feeling betrayed by the best friend she left behind, Nat fixates on Harry, a transgender classmate with a disapproving father. Rivers (Love, Ish) packs a lot into this story (including Nat’s love of whales), perhaps too much. Although Harry gets chapters of his own, his character is never fully developed, so it’s unclear why Nat is so determined to be friends with him when he sometimes treats her shabbily. Even less satisfying is the mystery surrounding Nat’s mother, whose identity—known to everyone but Nat—is eventually revealed, but not the reason she abandoned her daughter. Ages 8–12. Agent: Jennifer Laughran, Andrea Brown Literary. (Mar.)
Publishers Weekly

Same author as Girl in the Well is me. Brings up topic of transgender friend...