By Lisa Bunker
A trans girl starts over at a new school and, in the middle of finding herself, quietly hunts down whoever is posting hateful messages online.
Zenobia has just moved from Arizona to Maine to live with her two aunts, and she's starting seventh grade at a school where nobody knew her before. For the first time she gets to walk in every morning as the girl she's always known she was. She spent years hiding behind a computer, and she's a real coder, so when someone starts anonymously posting cruel, hateful memes to the school website, Zenobia decides to use what she knows to find out who's behind it. Along the way she makes actual friends, including a nonbinary classmate named Arli, and slowly stops hiding.
It carries a lot at once and never buckles. There's a genuine online mystery to pull a puzzle-minded child forward, and underneath it a girl learning she gets to be herself out loud. Lisa Bunker is transgender, and it shows in how ordinary and un-lecturing Zenobia's daily life feels. If your child is drawn to smart, sensitive children figuring out where they belong, this is a full, satisfying read that treats them like they can handle real feeling.