Too Bright to See

"Too Bright to See" is a Newbery Honor and Stonewall Book Award-winning middle grade novel that beautifully blends a ghost story with a profound journey of self-discovery. It follows 11-year-old Bug during the summer before middle school, a time when Bug's best friend Moira is focused on traditional girlhood. Bug, however, feels a growing discomfort with these expectations. Simultaneously, Bug's old house in rural Vermont is haunted by a mysterious ghost. As Bug investigates the ghost's message, a deeper truth emerges: Bug is transgender. The book is praised for its empathetic exploration of grief, love, and gender identity, offering a tender and healing narrative for children aged 8-12.

A Newbery Honor Book • Winner of the Stonewall Book Award • A National Book Award Finalist "A gentle, glowing wonder, full of love and understanding." –The New York Times Book Review It's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare. For Moira, this means figuring out the right clothes to wear, learning how to put on makeup, and deciding which boys are cuter in their yearbook photos than in real life. But none of this is all that appealing to Bug, who doesn't particularly want to spend more time trying to understand how to be a girl. Besides, there's something more important to worry about: A ghost is haunting Bug's eerie old house in rural Vermont...and maybe haunting Bug in particular. As Bug begins to untangle the mystery of who this ghost is and what they're trying to say, an altogether different truth comes to light--Bug is transgender.