Review: The Pants Project

Title: The Pants Project
Author: Cat Clarke
Series: N/A
Length: 272 pages
Published by: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Publication date: March 7, 2017
Diversity: trans main character with two moms, disabled supporting character
Rating: ★★★★
Source: eARC via NetGalley  



This was just so gosh darn cute. I love happy queer books! And I'm so happy that these kinds of books are becoming more widely available and being written about a wider variety of characters.

Minor spoilers ahead, with no details - I was really happy to see a story involving a queer character who starts out in the closet whose story doesn't revolve around coming out. We need all kinds of queer stories, because there are all kinds of queer people! And I can't think of too many others that are like this.

I was also pleasantly surprised at how diverse this book is. I knew it had a trans main character when I picked it up, but he has two moms, and one of his best friends is disabled!

Liv is such a great protagonist. He's funny, he has good intentions even if he doesn't always go about things in the best way, and no matter how great he is, he's still realistically imperfect. His voice made me like him right off the bat, and I was rooting for him the whole way through!

This wasn't the main focus of the book, but one of my favorite parts was how this discussed that apologizing for something doesn't automatically make everything okay. There were a few times that I was worried that things would be resolved in a quick, forced way, since I tend not to expect as much depth from middle grade (which is a habit I should really break). But I had nothing to worry about! It handled real emotions and real problems exceptionally well.

I may not have given this a full five stars, but really, I have no complaints. I guess it was just missing that little extra something that would have made me absolutely love it. If this kind of book seems like your thing, I'd highly recommend it!

What are some of your favorite happy queer books? What about your favorite middle grade books? Are you going to read this? Tell me in the comments! 

Goodreads summary:

"My name is Liv (Not Olivia)... I'm not technically a girl.

I'm Transgender. Which is a bit like being a transformer. Only not quite as cool as cool because I probably won't get to save the world one day."

A Transformer is a robot in disguise. Liv is a boy in disguise. It's that simple. Liv knows he was always meant to be a boy, but with his new school's terrible dress code, he can't even wear pants. Only skirts.

Operation: Pants Project begins! The only way for Liv to get what he wants is to go after it himself. But to Liv, this isn't just a mission to change the policy- it's a mission to change his life. And that's a pretty big deal.