Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Annelie Geissler
Categories
Children’s, Teenage & Educational

BETWEEN PERFECT AND REAL

Ray Stoeve

A moving YA debut about a trans boy finding his voice - and himself.

Dean Foster knows he's a trans guy. He's watched enough YouTube videos and done enough questioning to be sure. But everyone at his high school thinks he's a lesbian - including his girlfriend Zoe, and his theater director, who just cast him as a "nontraditional" Romeo. He wonders if maybe it would be easier to wait until college to come out. But as he plays Romeo every day in rehearsals, Dean realizes he wants everyone to see him as he really is now - not just on the stage, but everywhere in his life. Dean knows what he needs to do. The only question is, can he go for everything he needs without losing all he has? Debut author Ray Stoeve's YA novel BETWEEN PERFECT AND REAL is the story of a school play, a senior year, and a boy trying to figure out what life he really wants - and what it would mean to try to build it. Ray Stoeve is the author of the young adult novel Between Perfect and Real, which was a 2021 Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. They also contributed to the young adult anthology Take The Mic: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance. They received a 2016-2017 Made at Hugo House Fellowship and created the YA/MG Trans and Nonbinary Voices Masterlist, a database that tracks all books in those age categories written by trans authors about trans characters. When they're not writing, they can be found gardening, making art in other mediums, or hiking their beloved Pacific Northwest.

Available products
Book Published 2021-04-27 by Abrams /Amulet Books

Comments

Dean's process of figuring out his identity and his love of acting will be relatable to many teens, and Stoeve does not shy away from the nuances of navigating life after coming out.

Between Perfect and Real manages to be both powerful and feel like a warm hug, written with love for every trans and nonbinary young reader, offering guidance on their paths. Informative and hopeful, I know that this book will change and save lives. A beautiful debut!

Dean's story demonstrates the courage that it takes to come out.

An astounding debut overflowing with heart. Stoeve beautifully captures the world of high school theater as much as they also give teens a story about the pitfalls of holding others to impossible, unfair standards. I spent the whole book rooting for Dean and his incredible group of friends. This is exactly the kind of book I needed long, long ago.

Thoughtful, honest, and full of hope. Ray Stoeve's BETWEEN PERFECT AND REAL is bursting at the seams with so many of my favorite things: friendship, community, and theatre.

Trans listeners hoping for a sense of authenticity will find it here, and listeners of all kinds will root for Dean as he grows into his true self and looks to the future.

Dramatic, hilarious, and heartbreaking. I fell for these characters so hard.

Dean's journey is tender, emotional, honest, and unafraid to face both the pain and joy of coming out. Through Dean's authentic and hopeful voice, Stoeve expertly crafts a powerful exploration of who we can become when we have the courage to choose our own paths.

Stoeve perfectly encapsulates the experience of a teen's trans awakening... Stoeve is wise not to give Dean too rosy of a denouement, but the novel ends on a hopeful note, with the promise that, while life isn't perfect, it can be lived authentically.

Between Perfect and Real perfectly captures the rollercoaster ride of being a queer high school senior. Stoeve gives voice to the heartbreaks and triumphs of regular kid life in that time when we're all trying to figure out who we've been, who we are, and who we want to be. A beautiful read.

Stoeve's Between Perfect and Real is a funny, heartfelt and utterly enchanting debut that explores all the complexities of teenagehood-love, friendship, identity, and what it means to be brave. An outstanding and necessary new voice in the YA canon!

Not settling for pat, one-dimensional explanations, the story is honest about the uncertainty, self-consciousness, confusion, and fear that can accompany transition while being validating and supportive of its trans protagonist.