Description
Who will be brave enough to make friends with the boy named Queen? Sara Cassidy’s acclaimed novel, A Boy Named Queen, is now available in paperback!
Evelyn is both aghast and fascinated when a new boy comes to grade five and tells everyone his name is Queen. Queen wears shiny gym shorts and wants to organize a chess/environment club. His father plays weird loud music and has tattoos.
How will the class react? How will Evelyn?
Evelyn is an only child with a strict routine and an even stricter mother. And yet in her quiet way she notices things. She notices the way bullies don’t seem to faze Queen. The way he seems to live by his own rules. When it turns out that they take the same route home from school, Evelyn and Queen become friends, even if she finds Queen irritating at times. Why doesn’t he just shut up and stop attracting so much attention to himself.
Yet Queen is the most interesting person she has ever met. So when she receives a last-minute invitation to his birthday party, she knows she must somehow persuade her mother to let her go, even if Queen’s world upends everything her mother considers appropriate.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.4.3
Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character's thoughts, words, or actions).
Recommended Age, Grade, and Reading Levels
- Age:
- 8 to 11
- Grade:
- 3 to 6
- Reading age:
- 8 to 11
Awards
- Short-listed, Rocky Mountain Book Award
- Short-listed, Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award
- Commended, Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices List
- Short-listed, Diamond Willow Award
- Short-listed, Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award
- Commended, CBC Best Books of 2016
- Commended, Quill & Quire Reviewer Pick
Editorial Reviews
Cassidy’s novella is a little gem … a lovely book with which to begin the school year, not only for the message of tolerance it conveys, but also for the beautiful language in which it has been delivered.
— Canadian Children’s Book News
Cassidy does a lovely job of letting the lessons of embracing individuality, confidence, acceptance, and tolerance clearly and cleverly reveal themselves in this short but punchy novel.
— Quill & Quire
A small, eloquent book with a powerful message.
— Kirkus Reviews
This is a book of gentle nudges that could open some minds as well as some possibility for discussion.
— Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
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Annotations
Librarian review
A Boy Named Queen
Queen, a fifth grade student, defies the bullies at his school with his radical acceptance of himself and his gender-fluid identity. In spite of those who wish to punish Queen for his joyful defiance of the gender binary, Queen bravely embraces his identity, in a story about resiliency and tolerance. The short novel will help young readers build understanding of gender fluidity and acceptance.
Source: Association of Canadian Publishers. Diversity Collection Selection 2017.
