Review by Jesus Gonzalez, 16
Act Cool By Tobly Mcsmith
Act Cool by Tobly McSmith is the emotional, heart striking, coming of age story which we all needed without knowing we did. In it, August Green, a Trans ftm teenager is accepted into one of the most prestigious Performing arts schools in New York, but if he wants to attend he must move to the city with his aunt. The issue August is facing is that in his small town, no one accepts him for being trans, and in order to be able to go to the city with his aunt, his parents make him promise that he won’t transition to a boy and continue being their daughter. Since August is such a great actor he believes that he can play the role of being the daughter that his parents want him to play while still being cool and confident around his new extremely talented friends. All is going good for August until he lands a role which is very close to his current situation. He must choose who he really wants when the lights go out.
I enjoyed the book. I can honestly say there was nothing I found wrong with it as I felt they did a very good job at telling a fairly realistic story about being trans. I say realistic because of the way the people from August’s town react to him being trans as it’s not always rainbows and butterflies for every trans teen. One thing I felt was incredible was how they fleshed out the character of August as you can visualize how he is dealing with his issues from the writing. His character is also very richly developed over the course of the book as he slowly tries to find his self identity. Now the thing I hated most about the book was how rushed it felt; the 343 pages the book was given were not enough for the whole story. In the first fifty pages or so they fit in August running from home due to issues about him being trans, him moving in with his aunt, him getting an audition of his life time, and then him getting accepted and dealing with being the new kid and the deal he made with his parents. Overall, this book is a great book and extremely well written except for the pacing. I enjoyed the book because the plot and characters are just so well written. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a good story about following your dreams and staying true to yourself with an lgbtq+ twist.
Find this book in our catalog: N/A
Catalog Number: N/A
343 pages