Ray StoeveтАЩs Between Perfect and Real is a moving YA debut about a trans boy finding his voiceтАФand himself.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Dean Foster knows heтАЩs a trans guy. HeтАЩs watched enough YouTube videos and done enough questioning to be sure. But everyone at his high school thinks heтАЩs a lesbianтАФincluding his girlfriend, Zoe, and his theater director, who just cast him as a тАЬnontraditionalтАЭ Romeo. He wonders if maybe it would be easier to wait until college to come out.
But as he plays Romeo every day in rehearsals, Dean realizes he wants everyone to see him as he really is nowтАУтАУnot just on the stage, but everywhere in his life. Dean knows what he needs to do. Can playing a role help Dean be his true self?
тАЬPerfectly captures the roller-coaster ride of being a queer high school senior. Stoeve gives voice to the heartbreaks and triumphs of regular kid life in that time when weтАЩre all trying to figure out who weтАЩve been, who we are, and who we want to be. A beautiful read.тАЭ тАФDaisy Eagan, writer and Tony AwardтАУwinning actor