Trigger warnings: Grief, references to sickness/Cancer, homophobia, transphobia, slurs regarding to sexuality, depression, suicide attempt
Synopsis: Meet Eric and Morgan.
Born on the same day, at the same time, in the same place. They’ve always shared this one day together, but as they grow up they begin to grow apart.
Everyone expects Eric to get a football scholarship, but no one knows he’s having second thoughts.
Former quarterback Morgan feels utterly alone, as she wrestles with the difficult choice to live as her true self.
Both of them are struggling to be the person they know they are. Who better to help than your best friend?
Told on one day every year, over six years, this is a story about how change pulls people apart… and how love brings them back together.
An LGBTQ+ YA One Day perfect for fans of Love, Simon, Birthday is a beautiful love story by the best-selling #ownvoices author of If I Was Your Girl.
Review: Birthday is a complicated book. It’s a dual-perspective story about 2 kids, Eric and Morgan, as they share their birthday together and we see how life changes for both of them. Straight up, Morgan is trans. That’s an element of the story. They wrestle with being referred to as the wrong gender through most of the book, and they come to terms with how they feel about themselves. That being said, there’s a lot of homophobia in Birthday. There’s internal and external homophobia and transphobia. Morgan is also dealing with the deal of their mother, so grief is also peppered within this book. I loved seeing how Eric and Morgan both wrestle with their sexuality. That being said, Morgan has a hard time thinking that she is sick. I’m sure some trans people will understand how that feels, but it should be noted because it can be difficult to read.
One thing I wish Meredith had done a little more of was dissect what people consider “feminine.” Morgan thinks that wearing make-up is a good indicator of whether they are trans or not, but there isn’t very much dialogue about what people expect of women and other ways Morgan can test femininity. Morgan also tries aggressive masculinity to get over the feelings of “wrongness.” Considering how extreme Morgan takes masculinity and femininity, I wish there were some conversations about gender expectations. There could have been interesting conversations with Eric regarding whether or not he could be bi, or questioning, but there weren’t. I will say that I liked how Eric considered his attraction towards Morgan without being immediately appalled at the idea that he might be attracted to males. I’m so used to that being the immediate reaction, so it was refreshing to have someone like Eric be open to the possibility that he might not just be attracted to females.
I thought the ending was a little rushed, but I liked how much of Eric and Morgan we got to experience considering we only spent a day with them.
4 howls
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