I have been a fan of Sophie Labelle’s comic, Assigned Male, off and on for years. Therefore, when I saw they had books for them, I was excited and picked a few up. They are a great way to read (if not all the series) the best of the series. When I realized they had “spin off” books as well, I looked into them. In 2020 and 2021 Ciel, the non-binary pre-teen/teen of Assigned Male, was given at least two books of their own.
I was interested in Ciel’s story as we’ve followed their best friend Stephie (a trans girl), but Ciel hasn’t gotten a lot of screen time from their point of view. And a non-binary character having their own story was new and fresher than other queer books I had read. Therefore, Ciel (book one) found its way to my hands. Then a few years later, Ciel In All Directions (translated by Andrea Zanin) also found a home in my reading pile.
These books are novels and not graphic novels, therefore, it can be a bit difficult to imagine the crazy and wonderful outfits Ciel puts together. They have a loud personality, even if they can be shy, and I think it would help me “see” them better. And since they are also talking about video blogs/YouTube pages, maybe we could expand on the feeling Ciel wants to give with their videos. With that said, they are nice books and don’t really need imagery. Both books deal with the kids and their coming out, coming to terms with family and friends, and some of how the community reacts.
With book two, we jump into how Ciel and their friends are taking different paths to come to terms with their queerness and how to be part of that community. The setting of the book is Canada so some of the things said and done have that tone to them, but also with the exception of the names of towns/cities and the names of characters, it could be set anyplace. Ciel and their family go apple picking, the boy Ciel likes has swim training, they go to school, fall in and out of love and find themselves.
For ages 10 to 13, though a strong 8-9 year-old would be fine. There are some triggers (such as some homophobic/transphobic comments) but they are handled tastefully.