The Lonely Book

3.3

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Author(s)

Meg Grehan

Publisher Name

Little Island Books

Genre(s)

Age Range

10+

Release Date

September 12, 2023

ISBN13

978-1915071446

ISBN10 or ASIN

A warm and loving story about how a non-binary person comes to understand and accept themselves by an award-winning queer author.

Every morning, when Annie’s moms open up their bookshop, there’s a pile of books on the counter, waiting for the right reader to come and find them.

But one day, there’s a book nobody comes for. Nobody ever comes, and each day the book gets lonelier, and the bookshop becomes an unhappy place. Who can the book be for, and why don’t they come?

Eventually, the book finds the reader who needs it: Annie’s sister, Charlotte. Charlotte asks the family to call her Charlie now, and to use ‘they/them’ pronouns.

The bookshop cheers up. Customers start buying books again

Editor review

1 review

The right book at the right time

September 16, 2023

Overall rating

3.3

Plot

4.0

Characters

3.0

Writing Style

3.0

Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

N/A

What I liked:
A bookshop that has a mission for its owners takes these books and waits for the owner to arrive so you can share this perfect book with them. Each day, when the family opens the shop, a stack of books will be waiting, but one day, a reader is left, and no one knows why. The author does a great job of sharing how the characters act. This is not an ordinary book. The topic might be a touchy subject. You read about the moms quickly putting it away whenever the daughters look for it. Eventually, we get around to the issue of gender and the types, etc. The author does a great job with this subject, a unique way to broach the topic with this age group.
Final Verdict:
A Middle-Grade chapter book that tackles the diverse topic of gender identity uniquely and magically. In this ever-changing world, topics discussed in schools and among children's peers are not the same topics parents navigated at that age. It can be hard to know when the right time is to talk about it and how much information may be too much. The Lonely Book takes this topic and, through the writing style in verse, gives readers a way to navigate and understand this topic.