Review: Zenobia July

Zenobia July by Lisa Bunker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Finished on June 19, 2021

Favorite Scene/Quote: "Why did Aunt Phil have to be so nice? Ruining a perfectly good bad mood."

4.75/5 rounded up

A middle-grade book with a transgender girl with serious hacking skills. I picked this book up because that was enough to get me interested. I wasn’t fully sure what to expect, but I had good hopes.
    
Zenobia July is living with her aunts in Maine after her father dies. When she lived with her father she hid behind her computer, becoming amazing with a computer and developing great hacking and coding skills. With her aunts she’s able to live authentically. They’ve also allowed her to live as a girl, which she wasn’t able to do prior. When someone starts posting hateful memes on the school’s website, Zenobia decides that she will find whoever is doing this and make them stop.

I really kind of love this book. It’s not an overly deep book or one with a lot of angst. I just thought that this book was fun and wacky. The characters were weird in the best ways, and it was fun. Zenobia was practically a genius hacker, and it seemed a bit like a kids show/movie. It’s not exactly a realistic book, but I never expected it to be.

My favorite part of this book was the characters. All of these characters were different and identifiable, and they were so much fun. Zenobia is dealing with her past and dealing with her two wacky aunts. The two aunts are trying their best in the ways that they know. Zenobia’s new friends are fun, especially Arli. There also wasn’t a lot of focus on the queer representation, at least not in a bad way. Characters do have to come out and there are problems, but the focus isn’t on all of the bad things that can happen when you come out.

Zenobia is transgender and that is discussed throughout the book, both in the present and past. It was messy, but it was explored quite well. Zenobia’s doubts and worries were laid bare. It was honest and touching and it explored Zenobia’s feelings about being denied this and then being allowed. I genuinely just loved Zenobia. She doesn’t always seem like a real character, she’s practically a genius and it’s a bit hard to believe at times. But I love her. She’s complicated and rude at times, but it’s what I expect from a teenager especially one who’s finally being allowed to live truly after years in a bad situation.

I have a couple of things I’m not a huge fan of, but they didn’t take much away from the book. One of my things is that this is a middle-grade book with an AR test, but you should be warned that there are some curse words. Some people might not want to have their younger kids read curse words. My other thing is that there are times where the kids don’t feel and talk like kids.

Seriously, I loved this book. It was fun and amused me so much. I didn’t really want to put it down after picking it up. I just genuinely enjoyed reading it so much.