Ray Stoeveโs Between Perfect and Real is a moving YA debut about a trans boy finding his voiceโand himself.
A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
Dean Foster knows heโs a trans guy. Heโs watched enough YouTube videos and done enough questioning to be sure. But everyone at his high school thinks heโs a lesbianโincluding his girlfriend, Zoe, and his theater director, who just cast him as a โnontraditionalโ 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 nowโโnot 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?
โPerfectly 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 weโre all trying to figure out who weโve been, who we are, and who we want to be. A beautiful read.โ โDaisy Eagan, writer and Tony Awardโwinning actor