The One Who Loves You the Most

Music-loving Honduran American adoptee Gabriela Ricci, 12, isn’t sure how to write about their “authentic self” for an essay assignment. They feel out of place in their adoptive white family and their own body, which was “growing in places I was increasingly becoming more and more uncomfortable about.” But with supportive new friends—Indian- and Peruvian-American YouTuber Abbie, who is trans and intersex, and Guatemalan American Héctor, who is pansexual and gender-fluid—Gabriela discovers new words to describe themself, such as nonbinary and asexual. While establishing the confidence to express themself, Gabriela struggles with navigating their mother’s depression, experiences homophobia and transphobia, and embarks on their first romantic relationship with their crush. Though the supporting cast’s characterizations feel thin, and the motivations behind a developing friendship between a bully and their victim are unclear, Gabriela’s powerhouse voice propels the narrative. Their friends and mother model unconditional support, and medina empathetically approaches difficult topics such as one person’s experience living with a parent with a mental illness. This debut is a love letter to self-acceptance’s power and a solid introduction to the notion of queer identity. Ages 8–14. Agent: Noah Ballard, Verve Talent. (May)