Lily and Dunkin by Donna Gephart → Start Date: June 15, 2016

[Katie]

Vicki and I will be reading this. I set it for tomorrow, but if you'd rather start the 17th we can do that instead.

[Vicki]

Let's stick with today and hopefully we can both get a decent number of pages read.

[Katie]

I'll start in a little bit then, since we're starting today.

[Vicki]

Sounds good!

[Katie]

I've read the first 100 pages (there aren't chapter numbers), and this is really good so far.

Dunkin (view spoiler)[I liked him at first, but I didn't like how he went and sat with the bullies who were the ''cool'' kids, instead of sitting with Lily. It seems like he's more worried about being popular and fitting in than finding a true good friend like Lily. (hide spoiler)]

Lily (view spoiler)[It must be hard for her to be afraid to be herself, especially with those bullies already being mean when she wears the boy clothes. (hide spoiler)]

Lily's dad (view spoiler)[I wish he would accept Lily as she is. At least her mom and sister do accept her though. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Whoa! That's great! I've been focusing on another book this morning but I'll get to it.

[Jacquelyn, thebrunettebooknerd]

You guys will have to let me know if you enjoy this. It looks incredible.

[Vicki]

I haven't started it yet, but I will let you know what I think when I've read it.

[Vicki]

I caught up with where you read up to in your post and finished the first 100 pages.

I am really enjoying this so far!

Dunkin (view spoiler)[really disappointed me when he sat with the bullies AND (stupidly) lied about playing basketball. I really thought he was going to be a good friend to Lily, but what he did was terrible. I understood his being afraid to stand up to them as they were bullying Lily, but I couldn't find a good excuse for dumping Lily and Dare to sit with the bullies just to "make a friend." (hide spoiler)]

Lily/Tim (view spoiler)[OMG What an awful situation with Lily's father. It's SO sad because Lily can't help that she was born into the wrong body and she feels more like a girl than a guy. She IS a girl and her dad won't accept her. That's all about pride, in my opinion. I'm really glad Sarah, Dare, and Lily's mom do accept her. There is some hesitation from Sarah though, although I think it's truly only protective. (hide spoiler)]

Dare (view spoiler)[is a truly good friend. I liked how she told Lily that it would make it easier for the next person if she was simply who she was. Hard? Yes. But the right thing to do? Absolutely! (hide spoiler)]

Transgender (view spoiler)[kids are so misunderstood. I believe that society is far more accepting than they used to be; however, just like with racism...we've come a long way but we have SO far to go!! I wish we could all just love each other for who we are, for our differences, and for our uniqueness! (hide spoiler)]

[Katie]

Now I'm through page 201.

Dunkin (view spoiler)[It seems clear that he wants to be friends with Lily and Dare, but doesn't really know how to stand up to the basketball guys. But I'm glad he at least did the thing on Halloween. (hide spoiler)]

Lily (view spoiler)[I'm glad she's starting to take small steps towards being herself. (hide spoiler)]

Lily's dad (view spoiler)[I'm glad he came around and agreed to get the hormone blockers for Lily. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

Haha! I knew it! I'll catch up but I'm reading a couple other books too.

[Katie]

I finished this book and really liked it.

The dance (view spoiler)[The scene at the dance was great. I loved everything in it, like Dunkin finally leaving the basketball guys and dancing with Lily, and Lily being herself. And Dare and Amy were even starting to become a couple, it seemed. (hide spoiler)]

Lily's dad (view spoiler)[I loved how he wore the I love my daughter shirt. (hide spoiler)]

Dunkin (view spoiler)[I was surprised to find out that his dad had actually killed himself and that Dunkin had blocked out the memory of that. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki]

That's great, Katie. I'm glad you liked it.

[Vicki]

Finished too and loved it. I don't know that I have anything to add that you didn't already cover. The best scene for me was the one when Lily's dad (view spoiler)[wore his T-shirt to the dance. (hide spoiler)]

Suicide (view spoiler)[among transgenders is SO HIGH it's horribly sad and that is (I assume) because people do not accept them so they live in a body as someone (a gender) they don't identify with and many many live with bullies such as the Neanderthals and worse. It's a sad day when we can't just love a person for their uniqueness and who they are and not what's between their legs. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha, lives on coffee]

wow, 4 and 5 star ratings?

I'm adding this one to my TBR

[Vicki]

I had a hard time deciding between 4 and 5, but she had some really good resources in the back so I just had to go with 5. LOL