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The Santa Hoax
Julian Gibson’s life is changing whether he’s ready for it or not. Since he realized he’s transgender, life hasn’t been too bad, even though his family and friends still call him Julia and think he’s a girl. At least he has his best friend Aiden, and sci-fi novels to enjoy with his dad.
But when high school starts, suddenly everything is different. Aiden no longer wants to be friends, and a girl named Maria takes an interest in Julian—though she doesn’t understand the truth. It’s been a year since he discovered he was transgender, and Julian is tired of feeling like he’s living a hoax, so he resolves to tell three people. As he comes out one slow step at a time, friendship and romance change and grow amidst holiday shopping and celebrations. Julian is beginning to understand why kids hang on to their belief in Santa—sometimes fiction is easier to accept than fact.
But when high school starts, suddenly everything is different. Aiden no longer wants to be friends, and a girl named Maria takes an interest in Julian—though she doesn’t understand the truth. It’s been a year since he discovered he was transgender, and Julian is tired of feeling like he’s living a hoax, so he resolves to tell three people. As he comes out one slow step at a time, friendship and romance change and grow amidst holiday shopping and celebrations. Julian is beginning to understand why kids hang on to their belief in Santa—sometimes fiction is easier to accept than fact.
254 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2016
36 people want to read
About the author
Francis Gideon
50 books43 followersFrancis Gideon is an editor and writer. He has appeared in Microscenes, Gay Flash Fiction, and JMS Books. He lives in Canada.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 28, 2016
A Joyfully Jay review.
4 stars
I like this story for teens and questioning persons. For myself, and I’ve read a few trans kids coming out stories this year, I felt the pace was slow and the plan to come out overly complicated. The metaphor of the myth of Santa versus being honest about one’s self seemed stretch I wasn’t able to follow, but the slightly jaded teen characters read as real and had age-appropriate conversations and activities. It’s mostly innocent with one drug reference and one scene where Julian and Maria briefly have the opportunity to explore one another physically, though it’s not too graphic. I felt a strong connection to Julian, and understood that he never felt that he was a girl. Nor did he feel he was a lesbian. He felt he was a (mostly) straight boy attracted (mostly) to girls—despite having a female body. This was a really interesting viewpoint, and I appreciated Julian’s difficulties with expressing this to his peers, parents, and teachers. Some guess. Some don’t. Julian’s new friends, including Maria, are especially generous. They give great advice and are extremely supportive. The book is affirming, with positive moments that will be appreciated by queer/trans readers. There’s also a lot of references to authors and musicians that produce queer-friendly/trans-friendly works, especially sci-fi stories, which is a valuable resource for interested people to explore.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
4 stars
I like this story for teens and questioning persons. For myself, and I’ve read a few trans kids coming out stories this year, I felt the pace was slow and the plan to come out overly complicated. The metaphor of the myth of Santa versus being honest about one’s self seemed stretch I wasn’t able to follow, but the slightly jaded teen characters read as real and had age-appropriate conversations and activities. It’s mostly innocent with one drug reference and one scene where Julian and Maria briefly have the opportunity to explore one another physically, though it’s not too graphic. I felt a strong connection to Julian, and understood that he never felt that he was a girl. Nor did he feel he was a lesbian. He felt he was a (mostly) straight boy attracted (mostly) to girls—despite having a female body. This was a really interesting viewpoint, and I appreciated Julian’s difficulties with expressing this to his peers, parents, and teachers. Some guess. Some don’t. Julian’s new friends, including Maria, are especially generous. They give great advice and are extremely supportive. The book is affirming, with positive moments that will be appreciated by queer/trans readers. There’s also a lot of references to authors and musicians that produce queer-friendly/trans-friendly works, especially sci-fi stories, which is a valuable resource for interested people to explore.
Read Veronica’s review in its entirety here.
December 17, 2016
3.75 stars
I discovered this author lately and I like the writing style, although I'm not a huge fan of YA stories, I wanted to give this one a chance, and I have to say I quite enjoyed it.
I discovered this author lately and I like the writing style, although I'm not a huge fan of YA stories, I wanted to give this one a chance, and I have to say I quite enjoyed it.
August 13, 2017
8/10 stars
"So overall, if you want a happy, sweet teen romance, I’d suggest picking this one up. It might just surprise you. - Matt
"Not everyone and everything was perfect here, but the story made me smile and I’d definitely recommend it. - Maria
Find our full reviews on our blog link: here.
"So overall, if you want a happy, sweet teen romance, I’d suggest picking this one up. It might just surprise you. - Matt
"Not everyone and everything was perfect here, but the story made me smile and I’d definitely recommend it. - Maria
Find our full reviews on our blog link: here.
December 27, 2016
This review was written for Joyfully Jay Reviews and can be accessed here: http://joyfullyjay.com/2016/12/review...
Julian Gibson is a transgender high school freshman. He’s always felt that he was a boy, though his body and birth name, Julia, are female. Julian has a dear childhood friend, Aiden, who’s been bullied mercilessly on social media for his perceived homosexuality. Aiden’s turned away from Julian, because Julian’s tomboy appearance makes people think he might be a butch dyke, and that’s unacceptable for Aidan. The loss of Aidan’s friendship is deeply upsetting for Julian.
Julian makes new friends with Maria, a beautiful bisexual girl, and her cousin. Maria’s got a cadre of misfit-type friends and they draw Julian in because Maria’s attracted to Julia(n). As much as Julian would like to date Maria, he feels it would be dishonest to do so without confessing that he’s really a boy—even if it means losing Maria and his new friends.
Julian decides that he needs to come out as trans because he wants to be seen as he is, but also because physiology is getting in the way. He’s developing breasts and having his period, and he really can’t handle it anymore. He has a really great relationship with his father, a city councilman for Toronto, and fears coming out will change everything. Thing is, Julian’s life is already changing and he recognizes that he’s got to speak soon, or lose more time in a body that’s betraying him. He vows to tell three people before Christmas—in a convoluted scheme to link these revelations to a series of Secret Santa parties. Along the way, he and Maria get closer, he messes up big time in school, and he’s under extreme pressure to come out to his parents before the new year.
I like this story for teens and questioning persons. For myself, and I’ve read a few trans kids coming out stories this year, I felt the pace was slow and the plan to come out overly complicated. The metaphor of the myth of Santa versus being honest about one’s self seemed stretch I wasn’t able to follow, but the slightly jaded teen characters read as real and had age-appropriate conversations and activities. It’s mostly innocent with one drug reference and one scene where Julian and Maria briefly have the opportunity to explore one another physically, though it’s not too graphic. I felt a strong connection to Julian, and understood that he never felt that he was a girl. Nor did he feel he was a lesbian. He felt he was a (mostly) straight boy attracted (mostly) to girls—despite having a female body. This was a really interesting viewpoint, and I appreciated Julian’s difficulties with expressing this to his peers, parents, and teachers. Some guess. Some don’t. Julian’s new friends, including Maria, are especially generous. They give great advice and are extremely supportive. The book is affirming, with positive moments that will be appreciated by queer/trans readers. There’s also a lot of references to authors and musicians that produce queer-friendly/trans-friendly works, especially sci-fi stories, which is a valuable resource for interested people to explore.
I did like the book, even though I felt it was unnecessarily long and the plot overly complicated. Julian is a good character to grow with, and the resolution of his coming out dilemma took more good than bad turns. The book felt very thorough in scope. Julian’s experiences might be more “true” in Canadian society than the US or UK, as there are likely to be regional differences in the reality of trans treatment from a society/institutions standpoint. Organically and emotionally, however, Julian felt very approachable. This is a book written for a YA audience, and it hit all those marks for me.
Julian Gibson is a transgender high school freshman. He’s always felt that he was a boy, though his body and birth name, Julia, are female. Julian has a dear childhood friend, Aiden, who’s been bullied mercilessly on social media for his perceived homosexuality. Aiden’s turned away from Julian, because Julian’s tomboy appearance makes people think he might be a butch dyke, and that’s unacceptable for Aidan. The loss of Aidan’s friendship is deeply upsetting for Julian.
Julian makes new friends with Maria, a beautiful bisexual girl, and her cousin. Maria’s got a cadre of misfit-type friends and they draw Julian in because Maria’s attracted to Julia(n). As much as Julian would like to date Maria, he feels it would be dishonest to do so without confessing that he’s really a boy—even if it means losing Maria and his new friends.
Julian decides that he needs to come out as trans because he wants to be seen as he is, but also because physiology is getting in the way. He’s developing breasts and having his period, and he really can’t handle it anymore. He has a really great relationship with his father, a city councilman for Toronto, and fears coming out will change everything. Thing is, Julian’s life is already changing and he recognizes that he’s got to speak soon, or lose more time in a body that’s betraying him. He vows to tell three people before Christmas—in a convoluted scheme to link these revelations to a series of Secret Santa parties. Along the way, he and Maria get closer, he messes up big time in school, and he’s under extreme pressure to come out to his parents before the new year.
I like this story for teens and questioning persons. For myself, and I’ve read a few trans kids coming out stories this year, I felt the pace was slow and the plan to come out overly complicated. The metaphor of the myth of Santa versus being honest about one’s self seemed stretch I wasn’t able to follow, but the slightly jaded teen characters read as real and had age-appropriate conversations and activities. It’s mostly innocent with one drug reference and one scene where Julian and Maria briefly have the opportunity to explore one another physically, though it’s not too graphic. I felt a strong connection to Julian, and understood that he never felt that he was a girl. Nor did he feel he was a lesbian. He felt he was a (mostly) straight boy attracted (mostly) to girls—despite having a female body. This was a really interesting viewpoint, and I appreciated Julian’s difficulties with expressing this to his peers, parents, and teachers. Some guess. Some don’t. Julian’s new friends, including Maria, are especially generous. They give great advice and are extremely supportive. The book is affirming, with positive moments that will be appreciated by queer/trans readers. There’s also a lot of references to authors and musicians that produce queer-friendly/trans-friendly works, especially sci-fi stories, which is a valuable resource for interested people to explore.
I did like the book, even though I felt it was unnecessarily long and the plot overly complicated. Julian is a good character to grow with, and the resolution of his coming out dilemma took more good than bad turns. The book felt very thorough in scope. Julian’s experiences might be more “true” in Canadian society than the US or UK, as there are likely to be regional differences in the reality of trans treatment from a society/institutions standpoint. Organically and emotionally, however, Julian felt very approachable. This is a book written for a YA audience, and it hit all those marks for me.
June 14, 2017
The suspense of the main character hiding himself for so long was intoxicating, but I love the ending.
January 2, 2017
Originally posted at Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
One of my favorite things about reading – as opposed to watching TV or movies – is that although an author can give me details about a character's physical appearance, I can take those details and create a person in my mind who looks, sounds, and moves in the way that seems right to me to fit in the story. It's usually a shock to see that same character portrayed by a specific actor/actress, because they are never what I imagined myself.
And that's what I was thinking about as I read this story about Julian, a trans boy who has just started high school. His image of himself is never what he sees in the mirror, or in pictures, or in how other people look at him. If the disconnect is so surprising to me when comparing an imaginary character with an actor portraying that same imaginary character, what must it be like to feel that about yourself? Every day? What must it be like to have people call you by a name that is not yours?
Julian Gibson is 14, and just entering high school in Toronto, Canada. He has felt like a boy since he was old enough to know the difference between boys and girls, but he has only found the words for it in the past few years. He hasn't told anyone that he is a boy, and of course is afraid of how they will react. As he and all the kids around him are entering or moving through puberty, he feels that disconnect between who he is and who he looks like much more acutely, and every day it causes him more distress. He's always been the quiet, bookish type, very intelligent, but living more inside his head than anywhere else, and high school is the time when he truly realizes that he will need to learn how to interact with the outside world. If he doesn't define himself, others will do it for him, and they will never know who he really is. He decides that if he can just tell 3 people, that it will become real – yes, he is aware that he's a little like Pinocchio wanting to be “a real boy” – and now he just needs to find a way to do that.
Those were all the things I loved about the story. The premise is interesting, the description of Julian's inner world and the discordance with what happens on the outside is exceptionally well done. But the plot, well, it's kind of meh. I was so frustrated that the conflict is all within Julian's mind. When he does start to slowly come out, there was no negativity from others at all. None, zip, nada. Everyone not only is supportive, but they also know exactly how to be supportive. No issues with forgetting to use the correct pronouns, no awkward interactions while reconciling Julian with Julia, and not even any questions like “how does that feel?” Julian's girlfriend, who mostly identifies as lesbian, basically just says OK when Julian explains how important it is that she thinks of them as a straight couple, and immediately he is her boyfriend, and that's that.
The only external conflict had to do with gender specific bathrooms. Really? I know that North Carolina made a big deal about that, and the far right continues to make a big deal about it, but I personally think there are many more important discrimination issues facing transgender people. I say this as a heterosexual, cis-woman, so of course I could be wrong, but I thought the focus on the bathroom issue was disingenuous at best, and a cop-out at worst.
Overall, the book fell short of what I hoped it would be, but it at least made me think more about the internal conflict that any transgender person must feel as they grow up and come to terms with their identity. And I would definitely want to read a story with transgender teens again in the future.
One of my favorite things about reading – as opposed to watching TV or movies – is that although an author can give me details about a character's physical appearance, I can take those details and create a person in my mind who looks, sounds, and moves in the way that seems right to me to fit in the story. It's usually a shock to see that same character portrayed by a specific actor/actress, because they are never what I imagined myself.
And that's what I was thinking about as I read this story about Julian, a trans boy who has just started high school. His image of himself is never what he sees in the mirror, or in pictures, or in how other people look at him. If the disconnect is so surprising to me when comparing an imaginary character with an actor portraying that same imaginary character, what must it be like to feel that about yourself? Every day? What must it be like to have people call you by a name that is not yours?
Julian Gibson is 14, and just entering high school in Toronto, Canada. He has felt like a boy since he was old enough to know the difference between boys and girls, but he has only found the words for it in the past few years. He hasn't told anyone that he is a boy, and of course is afraid of how they will react. As he and all the kids around him are entering or moving through puberty, he feels that disconnect between who he is and who he looks like much more acutely, and every day it causes him more distress. He's always been the quiet, bookish type, very intelligent, but living more inside his head than anywhere else, and high school is the time when he truly realizes that he will need to learn how to interact with the outside world. If he doesn't define himself, others will do it for him, and they will never know who he really is. He decides that if he can just tell 3 people, that it will become real – yes, he is aware that he's a little like Pinocchio wanting to be “a real boy” – and now he just needs to find a way to do that.
Those were all the things I loved about the story. The premise is interesting, the description of Julian's inner world and the discordance with what happens on the outside is exceptionally well done. But the plot, well, it's kind of meh. I was so frustrated that the conflict is all within Julian's mind. When he does start to slowly come out, there was no negativity from others at all. None, zip, nada. Everyone not only is supportive, but they also know exactly how to be supportive. No issues with forgetting to use the correct pronouns, no awkward interactions while reconciling Julian with Julia, and not even any questions like “how does that feel?” Julian's girlfriend, who mostly identifies as lesbian, basically just says OK when Julian explains how important it is that she thinks of them as a straight couple, and immediately he is her boyfriend, and that's that.
The only external conflict had to do with gender specific bathrooms. Really? I know that North Carolina made a big deal about that, and the far right continues to make a big deal about it, but I personally think there are many more important discrimination issues facing transgender people. I say this as a heterosexual, cis-woman, so of course I could be wrong, but I thought the focus on the bathroom issue was disingenuous at best, and a cop-out at worst.
Overall, the book fell short of what I hoped it would be, but it at least made me think more about the internal conflict that any transgender person must feel as they grow up and come to terms with their identity. And I would definitely want to read a story with transgender teens again in the future.
December 2, 2016
This was actually a very complex story on a psychological and emotional level. Julian really took my breath away. Always on to try and get into the character's head; Julian was near impossible.
He's a trans-boy and just began high school. And that in itself is hard enough. At 14 he's just starting to connect with who he really is. His struggles are very emotional to read. Seeing your reflection but not feeling like the person looking back at you. He's smart and quiet and keeps to himself.
He has so many battles with himself and society and what to do. Being 14 is rough but what Julian is living with makes it so much harder. I will say I really liked Julian's character.
I did feel like there were some issues with the story. Not with the style of writing but with some of the substance. I don't want to sound like I'm being a jerk but this story isn't written to be a fantasy. It was really pulling all the stops on realism so when there should have been obstacles that I felt would have been epically fabulous not just for Julian, but for any transgender person to relate to, well, there just wasn't.
Though it's wonderful that everyone was accepting of Julian's transition from Julia to Julian it was just that; they were too okay with it. Not to mention not once was there a slip up in pronouns. They go from calling him "she" for fourteen years and then nail it? I don't know it felt so beyond off to me, like a dream.
The other issue I had was with his girlfriend. She identifies as a lesbian but the second Julian is out she is okay calling them straight. Again, it almost made it feel like it was fake. Not to be mean I am really not but ones identity is all we truly have and I felt like she so easily was able to toss it aside.
I liked the story, I did. I really liked Julian and for me he made this story great. He alone is worth reading this story for. And I will for sure be looking for more stories like this one.
He's a trans-boy and just began high school. And that in itself is hard enough. At 14 he's just starting to connect with who he really is. His struggles are very emotional to read. Seeing your reflection but not feeling like the person looking back at you. He's smart and quiet and keeps to himself.
He has so many battles with himself and society and what to do. Being 14 is rough but what Julian is living with makes it so much harder. I will say I really liked Julian's character.
I did feel like there were some issues with the story. Not with the style of writing but with some of the substance. I don't want to sound like I'm being a jerk but this story isn't written to be a fantasy. It was really pulling all the stops on realism so when there should have been obstacles that I felt would have been epically fabulous not just for Julian, but for any transgender person to relate to, well, there just wasn't.
Though it's wonderful that everyone was accepting of Julian's transition from Julia to Julian it was just that; they were too okay with it. Not to mention not once was there a slip up in pronouns. They go from calling him "she" for fourteen years and then nail it? I don't know it felt so beyond off to me, like a dream.
The other issue I had was with his girlfriend. She identifies as a lesbian but the second Julian is out she is okay calling them straight. Again, it almost made it feel like it was fake. Not to be mean I am really not but ones identity is all we truly have and I felt like she so easily was able to toss it aside.
I liked the story, I did. I really liked Julian and for me he made this story great. He alone is worth reading this story for. And I will for sure be looking for more stories like this one.
Read
July 5, 2019Genre: realistic fiction, YA
2 LGBTQ main characters: 1 bisexual transgender boy, 1 bisexual girl
1 LGBTQ side character: transgirl
Importance of Identity to Plot: 5/5
Romance: 4/5
Coming out: yes
Notes: TW transphobia ofc
2 LGBTQ main characters: 1 bisexual transgender boy, 1 bisexual girl
1 LGBTQ side character: transgirl
Importance of Identity to Plot: 5/5
Romance: 4/5
Coming out: yes
Notes: TW transphobia ofc
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews