I had high hopes for this one as a queer, neurodivergent adult who struggled with fitting in as a kid. Unfortunately, Glitch Girl! didn’t meet my expectations. To start, it took me so. freaking. long. to get through this. It’s written in verse but is still somehow SOOOO long. There is also not really a plot for 90% of the book. The main character, J, goes to school, comes home to play a Rollercoaster Tycoon-esque, and talks about their crush. The video game part takes up waaaay too much of the book for something that doesn’t actually move the storyline along. J is also an odd, unreliable narrator, and by that I mean they are a true neurodivergent child who really doesn’t understand what’s going on socially between themself and their classmates/“friends,” and that was hard to read for me. Parts of the story with Junie were just…strange.
However, there were some good things about this! I love that J found a friend in Sam towards the end, and I am always grateful for queer, ND middle grades rep. I also really enjoyed the interviews with the real “Junie” and “Garrison” at the end.

As a fan of trans mc's, novels in verse and the power of middle grade: glitch girl was destined to make an impact. Following our mc who finds solace in a theme park building game, in its glitches and the ways it can be shaped to mirror how she feels whilst exploring youth as a trans person with everything else that middle school brings. This story was sweet and the writing simple, but my enjoyment was lowered by the lack of plot and pointed impact for most of the 'in-verse' novel - which isn't to say it's bad, just that I think I expected a little more development and emotional impact! It was still heartfelt, still full of so many glimmering reflections of truth.

But I will definitely be looking out for more from this author, there's so much room to grow!

Oet does a fantastic job painting a youthful experience with gender identity, expertly using prose to make a complex topic feel simple and understandable. This combined with a few asides the main character makes creates a book that will very successfully teach young kids about what it means to feel as though your body is not your own, and your gender does not match your heart. Sometimes I wonder if it feels too pedantic at times, but knowing that the audience is a young, middle grade audience, I think that's something for people more familiar with that genre to decide. It has a really important opening that spells out exactly what this book is about, what the characters pronouns are, and how to respect the main character. I think this book does a great job and I hope that kids read this and feel not only seen, but see others. I also hope it introduces kids to the beauty of prose poetry, which Oet uses expertly throughout.

An important, impactful novel with the power to envelop people within prose poetry and exemplify the unique and charming inner life of its main character.

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Glitch Girl! by Rainie Oet is a first person-POV Middle Grade Queer contemporary novel in verse. Following J—, a transgirl (she/they) with ADHD and Russian Jewish immigrant parents, from fourth to seventh grade, in a series of non-rhyming poetic vignettes, we see her daily life and how she grows into herself. From love, gender, being neurodivergent, and more, we get a deep look into J—’s mind and how isolated they often feel from the people around them.

This was my first novel in verse in a very long time if not my very first. I appreciate sonnets and some shorter poetry but have struggled to get into more modern poetry over the years. I requested this ARC specifically so I could see if I could develop an appreciation for the art form through a longer narrative and I’m so glad I did. If you’re like me and are unfamiliar with how non-rhyming poetry is structured, the line breaks make a lot more sense if you pause at the end of each line and take in why Rainie Oet picked that particular word to end on and that emphasis it creates. Taking your time is really key to taking in the poetic cadence and I highly recommend doing so instead of speed reading.

We don’t have another name for J—-, which is the shortened version of their dead name, a name that they already know they don’t want because it doesn’t feel right, but they don’t know what a dead name is until much later. That plus not telling others about how they are feeling in regards to their gender helps show the journey of someone still figuring things out but knows when something is not working. It’s so important to show that period of time so many baby Queers experience because it sometimes feels like everyone else just knew who they were while you were struggling to put a name to why something feels off. I think a lot of young trans people will feel very seen and heard by Glitch Girl!

J— is, without a doubt, struggling to connect to their parents, their peers, and the other adults in their life but it’s also made quite clear that other people don’t know how to connect to them so those peers, those teachers, and the parents just don’t even try. They do make a friend in Junie which later develops into a full blown crush complete with the all-consuming fantasies that is so common when someone is experiencing their first crush. But no matter how hard the two try to understand each other, there is a barrier there. Junie makes more of an effort that their classmates, who often ridicule the lead, but it’s still not quite enough.

Content warning for mentions of child abuse and anti-Semitism and for depictions of transphobia and ableism

I would recommend this to fans of novels in verse looking for a novel exploring transness, readers looking for a MG contemporary inspired by the author’s life, and those looking for kidlit that is honest about the treatment of kids who are neurodivergent

This book is intense and rough, but I’m glad it has a happy, hopeful ending. I don’t know how much I believe in the positivity of the ending based on the experiences prior, but also limited perspective is also going to shape my feelings of the earlier experiences J— had with her parents. The relationship she has with Junie also made me uncomfortable in ways because of the almost obsessive nature of it, but also I can see that being extremely relatable to others because of the feelings of “do I like her or do I want to be her?” that I think is at the root of J—‘s feelings for Junie. I like that it’s a story that covers three years and it gives a lot of space for J—‘s growth and self-discovery. I found this hard to put down and ended up reading it in one sitting when I should have gone to sleep (whoops), and think this does a lot of good things regarding gender feelings and understanding, as well as dealing with ADHD brain and the way society and those in power will punish you for being yourself, even as you’re doing your best to be “good.” Overall a really intense book that I’ll be thinking about for a while.