I really enjoyed reading Continuum. It opened my eyes to other's perspective and how things are for them in their life. It was a great example of how all of us need to treat each other with love, respect, and open minds/hearts. We need to read more diverse stories and be more inclusive.

This is a story of of hardship, but also coping, and resilience. It's about Chella Mans journeys through his experiences as a deaf, transgender, and Jewish person of color. With the odds constantly stacked against you, it's nice to see how someone makes it daily.

I've read quite a few of the Pocket Change Collective books and have been really impressed with them overall! This was no exception. Chella Man offers plenty of thoughtful insight and perspective. I appreciated the discussion of identity from the perspective of an author with many intersectional identities. Thank you Penguin Teen for providing an advanced e-copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

This series is a great one for all ages. Chella Man's story was eye opening. I definitely recommend Continuum and the series as a whole.

*thank you to penguinteen for a copy of this ARC*

5⭐️

"Continuum" is such a wonderful Own Voices story that I binged in under an hour. As a cis-woman and also someone of mixed race, reading Chella's story gave me insight into a world that I've never even considered existing. To be genderqueer, biracial, and Deaf in America is not easy, and Chella explained both the difficult and beautiful parts of his life so perfectly, it felt like I was experiencing alongside him. My favorite quote has to be "The truth is, identity isn't a monolith. It exists on a continuum, reflecting our own specific experiences and personhood" (25). Chella's existence is beautiful, and I can't wait to see what he continues to do in the future!

Thank you to Peguin Teen for an eARC of this in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

No I definitely didn't finish this book with tears in my eyes and my heart in my throat.

Okay maybe I did...

I discovered Chella Man when I was researching contemporary queer icons and since I've found him, it's changed my life. Their TED talk was the first time I ever heard the word "genderqueer" and it sat in my brain niggling something I didn't know how to articulate until earlier this year.

In Continuum, Chella talks about his own experiences with gender identity, dysphoria, coming out and falling in love. I really hope Chella is giving more chances to write because this book was beautiful and powerful. I was able to listen along while reading my ecopy and Chella's narration was perfect! Loved it so damn much.

This book is not only educational, it is inspirational and I cannot recommend it enough along with the rest of the Pocket Change Collective!

Chella Man generously shares his experiences as a deaf, transgender, genderqueer, Jewish person of color. His openness about his identities is very needed, especially for kids who have yet to see themselves represented in books. Chella shows readers that you can have more than one identity and be okay. It may not always be easy, but it is possible, especially with writers like Chella Man being such wonderful examples for LGBTQIAP+ people.

I have seen the Pocket Change collective pop up on social media from time to time and I always think, this is such an incredible idea. Short stories about a person’s life to bring awareness. Each book is different, because each one is about a different path, life, and/or person.

Continuum is about Chella, an artist, activist, and actor. But his identity doesn’t begin or end with any of those things. It also isn’t because he is deaf, transgender, genderqueer, Jewish, or Chinese. It is an amalgamation of all of those things. None and all create the person... and all of them create his Continuum. Because our life is never ending and ever changing.

While I have never had any of the same experiences as Chella, I feel a kinship to the struggle he has faced for being himself. I would never claim to know what he’s gone through, but I read about a person who has fought to be accepted for being themself. And I find that both honorable and incredibly sexy.

A short and sweet coming of age memoir about Deaf identity, mixed race experience, and discovering one's gender identity. Don't expect deep commentary or twisting tales, Contiuum focuses more on the journey of introspection and finding one's people; and especially the experience of having marginalized identities that are not shared by biological family. Chella Man is transgender, genderqueer, Deaf, and mixed race; while their mother is cisgender, hearing, and white. Chella's mother quickly accepts Chella and finds ways to support them, which is a refreshing narrative for marginalized youth of many stripes.

This book is an incredibly intimate look at Chella Man’s journey through life. As a deaf and genderqueer individual and the path through years of trying to fit into a certain box because that was what was expected of them.

This was heartbreaking and incredibly beautiful. The art interspersed in this book was so unique and perfect. Such a raw delve into a single individual’s life in such a short read.

This was a super short but well written little book about Chella’s journey to figure out who he is as a queer, trans, Deaf, biracial and Jewish person. I really appreciated this little book and hearing Chella’s perspective. Also side note I loved hearing about Chella’s mom!

I have no complaints, it’s short but sweet and I think it would be a great addition to youth libraries.

I love the pocket for change collective. It’s so brilliant and so informative. I’ve learned so much. And I love this one! It reminded me that we are all in a state of continuum and always evolving and changing. This was so informative in terms of gender and sexuality and love and identity. Fantastic.

“If I had been born during any other era, my story would be different. The world would not be ready to understand with open hearts or minds. To this day, many still choose not to. But whether they choose ignorance or empathy is up to them. My story will still be here; it will never be erased. It begins and remains with a revelation: All of who I am lies on a continuum.”

What a short but impactful read! All cards on the table, I hadn’t heard about Chella before reading this story but I am so inspired by his journey. Discussing his identity that is not only shaped by being genderqueer but also Jewish and Chinese as well as Deaf and pansexual, the intersectionality of it all truly blew me away. Not to mention how he put a spotlight on the fact that his story would be different if he were born in a different era— it shows how far we’ve come but how far we still have to go in terms of equality on all eras of identity.

Chella paints an incredibly picture of how he came from his beginnings in Pennsylvania to live in New York City, finally feeling like diversity was no longer something to be hidden but something to be celebrated. I felt my heart break when Chella spoke of his first crush and how gender dysphoria and transphobia and ableism deeply influenced how he approached relationships and dating because it just goes to show how intricately these stigmatisations and discriminations are embedded in us from a young age on.

Overall though, this is a story of self-love and a celebration of identity and how it’s okay not to have everything about your identity figured out—like Chella so aptly summarises: “All of who I am lies on a continuum” and we decide how this continuum is designed.

A short novel about finding out who you are and what it means to really be you. Figuring out what it means to be a transgender, genderqueer, deaf Jewish person of color has lead him on a long struggle in the short 21 years of his life. It's taken a lot of support and communication with his friends and family to discover who he is and he's still figuring this out. A good novel for teens/young adult to realize that life is still going, and it's going to take a long time to get to the end.

The rep in this was amazing and some of the best I've seen, it felt so real and raw and you can tell it came from personal experience. Pick this up.

Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Teen for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review. I really really enjoyed this read! I’ve been on social media my whole young-adult life and so I was actually a little bit familiar with Chella Man before reading this book and it made me even more excited to dive in. Chella Man does an absolutely incredible job of telling his story of being deaf, trans, genderqueer, biracial, Jewish, a model, actor, and an artist. This book is going to be one that is going to help SO many people and kids and is one that I would want on my bookshelf asap if I was browsing through a bookstore!! I can’t wait for the rest of this series to come out because it’s truly going to be an incredible series and I really admire Penguin Teen for this project. (Plus the illustrations weaved in throughout the book were really cool and added to the reading experience.)

This book had a gigantic impact on me. Reading about Chella's story was beautiful and made me question so many things about myself and those around me. I felt completely touched and moved by his essay. I recommend all to read this work.

Content Warnings: Deadnaming, misgendering, depression, ableism, explanation, and feelings of gender dysphoria, HRT, testosterone shots, talk of top surgery.

Fantastic read about living as a transgender and genderqueer person. Chella's experience living in conservative Pennsylvania is very relatable to mine as someone who grew up in PA and I just loved reading his story. I personally related so much to the parts about his life pre-transition and before discovering his trans identity. The lines about conforming to feminity when you don't have the words and are being dismissed are so real. I really resonated with Chella's story a lot especially in the parts about their childhood, their relationship with clothes, and depression. Highly recommend reading this book about intersectionality.