Play Book Tag discussion

True story. Agender teenager Sasha was on a bus in Oakland California in Fall 2013 and fell asleep. When they woke up, they were on fire. Another teenager on the bus, Richard, saw a “boy” in a skirt and decided to light his lighter to the skirt, thinking it would just peter out, but it didn’t. Sasha had terrible burns to their legs. The author looks at both their lives leading up to the incident, and their lives during the aftermath.

The author set up the background of both Sasha and Richard – that is, their lives up to that point. Richard was a black boy, poor and though, ultimately, a good person, he hung around with a bad crowd. Next came the ride on the bus that resulted in Sasha’s being burned and Richard charged as an adult because it was a violent crime (although Sasha and their parents would have preferred he be tried as a juvenile).

There is a lot for people to learn in this book, particularly about Sasha and how they felt in their skin, initially as a boy, but then coming out as agender with their friends and parents. Sasha had been accepted and supported and didn’t have bad experiences due to their agender-ness, up until the incident on the bus. I had a (much) harder time feeling badly for Richard, despite studies about how teenagers’ brains are wired and although they know right from wrong, they can still be compelled to do things they know are wrong and do feel badly for afterward. I still had (have) a hard time getting past what Richard did, while knowing it was wrong. The book is aimed toward a YA audience, but I think there is so much in this book (particularly about gender) that adults can (and maybe should) learn, too. It’s an eye-opening book, for sure, and well worth reading.