MMGM review: Ollie In Between

I'm posting today with the fantastic Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays blog hop hosted by Greg Pattridge of Always in the Middle. Check out Greg's blog for a list of additional middle grade reviews. 

I'm pretty sure I learned about this book from one of my fellow MMGM bloggers--they've been tipping me off to the best books lately. Wherever I learned about it, it struck the right note with me.

 

Title: Ollie in Between

Author: Jess Callans

Publication Info: April 2025, Feiwel & Friends. 225 pages (ebook)

Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb (via Goodreads):
Puberty, AKA the ultimate biological predator, is driving a wedge between soon-to-be 13 year old Ollie Thompson and their lifelong friends. Too much of a girl for their neighborhood hockey team, but not girly enough for their boy-crazed BFF, Ollie doesn’t know where they fit. And their usual ability to camouflage? Woefully disrupted.When a school project asks them to write an essay on what it means to be a woman (if anyone’s got an answer, that’d be great), and one of their new friends is the target of bullying, Ollie is caught between the safety of fleeing from their own differences or confronting the risks of fighting to take their own path forward.

My Review:
This book was not only well-written and moving, but super important, in my opinion (note: my opinion is slightly affected by having a kid who never gave gender a thought until puberty hit and felt all wrong... and didn't have someone like Ollie's friends to help her figure it out).

Ollie feels very real to me. They aren't exceptionally brave or smart or academic or..., and there are enough issues in their life to make everything a little extra hard. Their mother is dead, something that at first I thought was gratuitous, but in fact is significant because the one person Ollie thinks they might have been able to talk to is gone. Their older sister would be really good at helping Ollie if the transition they were making was just from childhood to womanhood, but Lila's busy with college and falling in love and moving in with her boyfriend. Any other trajectory just isn't crossing her mind.

I think Callans does a fantastic job of tracking Ollie's journey from "WTH?" to some understanding of where they might fit, in spite of feeling at times (like my kid and I'm sure many others) that the model of being trans or non-binary that they see on the internet isn't quite them. Honestly, that's why I think this book is so important: it shows someone waking up to their difference at puberty, not the (probably rarer) model that is so prevalent in the media, of the kid who knows from early childhood. And it recognizes that everyone's identity, and their path to understanding their identity, is unique.

I also tagged this book as being about autism, because it's fairly clear that Ollie has undiagnosed autism. This not only impacts their struggle, but fits very well with reality: while about 5% of the overall population are autistic, closer to 25% of the trans community are (these figures are from a very quick internet search, but per a piece on NPR, the rate of autism among trans and non-binary people is 3-6 times higher than the general population). Whatever the connection, it certainly contributes to Ollie's struggle to figure out who they are and how they are supposed to behave. I recognize a lot of my kid's (and my own) behaviors in things Ollie does and thinks.

This is a book that should speak to kids on the autism spectrum, kids with questions about their gender, kids who find middle school extra challenging, and anyone else who's open to reading about someone who doesn't see the world the same way they do. Ollie in Between is also just a danged good story about growing up, family, and friendship. Who could ask for more?

My Recommendation:
Honestly, I think everyone who thinks it's a good idea to keep kids from knowing about gender issues should read this book. Because the more Ollie learns, the more they are able to become themself--someone who is comfortable enough in the world to speak up and act, and maybe even to apply themself to their studies. Information and access to a group of people who are totally accepting of them is a life-saver. For those of us who already know that, it's still a good read where you are sure to find, if not yourself, then someone you know.

 

FTC Disclosure: I checked Ollie in Between out of my library, and received nothing from the writer or publisher for my honest review.  The opinions expressed are my own and those of no one else.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."  



Rebecca M. Douglass, 2025
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