#MMGM Middle Grade Review: Different Kinds of Fruit & Too Bright to See, by Kyle Lukoff

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. 

Since this is Pride month, I'm focusing my MMGM book reviews on middle-grade books about sexual orientation and gender identity. 

A note for those wondering if books like this are appropriate for middle-grade kids: 9-13 is exactly the age when kids are entering puberty and starting to think about love, sex, and increasingly, gender identity. That makes it exactly the age when they need books that openly address the things that happen in middle school besides using a locker and changing classrooms six times a day. If 10-year-olds are old enough to be thinking about kissing their girl/boy friends (and they are thinking about it, so... yeah), then they are old enough to read about it. 

Today I'm featuring two books by Kyle Lukoff that address similar issues in very different ways, which is actually kind of cool, since questions of gender identity and sexual orientation are not neat and tidy and uniform.

 

 

Title: Too Bright to See

Author: Kyle Lukoff

Publication Info: Dial Books, 2021. 192 pages. 

Publisher's Blurb (Goodreads):
It's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare. For Moira, this means figuring out the right clothes to wear, learning how to put on makeup, and deciding which boys are cuter in their yearbook photos than in real life. But none of this is all that appealing to Bug, who doesn't particularly want to spend more time trying to understand how to be a girl. Besides, there's something more important to worry about: A ghost is haunting Bug's eerie old house in rural Vermont...and maybe haunting Bug in particular. As Bug begins to untangle the mystery of who this ghost is and what they're trying to say, an altogether different truth comes to light.

My Review:
This book almost didn't make it onto my e-reader, because I'm not a huge fan of stories that act like ghosts are real. I'm kind of hard-nosed about paranormal stuff (though if it knows it's fake and is a bit comic about it I'm good). I'm not sorry I read Too Bright To See, and I was able to engage in some willing suspension of disbelief and let the story roll. And it does roll. 

Bug's biggest issue at the start of the book is that Uncle Roderick has just died, leaving just Bug and her mother in a really old Vermont farmhouse that's always been haunted. At least, Bug and Uncle Roderick have always been able to sense the ghosts. You have to be able to let this pass to enjoy the book, but it's worth it. The hauntings get a bit more intense, and Bug is pretty freaked out. Since Mom doesn't believe, there's no good talking about them to her (I guess I'd be Mom).

Bug thus has two or three big issues to sort out over the summer: grief and loss (Uncle Roderick has  basically been Bug's father, who died before she knew him), what the ghost(s) are trying to say, and how the heck to approach middle school. Does that mean embracing Moira's version of being a girl? Or something different? Bug's mom is a super supportive adult, but she's got her own problems this summer and might not be quite as attentive as she might be to what's going on.

Uncle Roderick has an opinion on this and is working hard to communicate it from wherever he is now.  I think that's the biggest flaw in the book--that assumption that an external push is needed to get Bug to see what's up. In the end, Bug does figure it out without being told, so I felt it was okay--especially if you see the hauntings (which Mom doesn't notice at all) as being all really about the inside of Bug's head.

My Recommendation:
As with the other books in this category, I'm recommending it for about 10 or 11 and up. Anyone approaching puberty and middle school may be interested in the problems Bug is facing. With approaching zero romance, it has a good middle-grade vibe. With no characters really hostile to different sexualities and gender expressions, there's nothing here to upset anyone. 

 

 

 

 Title: Different Kinds of Fruit

Author: Kyle Lukoff

Publication Info: Penguin Randomhouse, 2022. 313 pages

Source: Library

Publisher's Blurb (Goodreads):
Annabelle Blake fully expects this school year to be the same as every other: same teachers, same classmates, same everything. So she’s elated to discover there’s a new kid in town. To Annabelle, Bailey is a breath of fresh air. She loves hearing about their life in Seattle, meeting their loquacious (and kinda corny) parents, and hanging out at their massive house. And it doesn’t hurt that Bailey has a cute smile, nice hands (how can someone even have nice hands?) and smells really good.

Suddenly sixth grade is anything but the same. And when her irascible father shares that he and Bailey have something big (and surprising) in common, Annabelle begins to see herself, and her family, in a whole new light. At the same time she starts to realize that her community, which she always thought of as home, might not be as welcoming as she had thought. Together Annabelle and Bailey discover how these categories that seem to mean so much— boy, girl, gay, straight— aren’t so clear-cut after all. 

My Review:
This is an amazing book about family, friendship, social justice, climate change, and yes, gender identity. There is a LOT to take in here, but the story is absolutely solid. I read the whole thing in two sittings, because I really wanted to see things work out for Annabelle, which thank goodness they do (I guess that's one advantage of reading kids' books instead of adult books, where you are much less certain of a good ending). I think that Lukoff got a lot more nuanced and interesting here than in Too Bright to See.

Setting the book in Annabelle's 6th grade year (12 years old) makes for perfect timing for kids figuring out who they are, and that's what we see here. Kids waffling between childhood and adolescence, thinking about kisses at one minute and climate change the next and then dodge ball. (What the heck is it about schools and dodge ball, anyway? That was the WORST game when I was a kid, really torture for some of us, and schools are still forcing kids to play it??). Annabelle's alternative school sets up an expectation of greater openness-- and then proves terribly close-minded and willing to be swayed by a single loud parent, adding another dimension to her story.

Among the many things going on in the story are questions of what and how parents should tell their kids about themselves, the implications of coming out, and homophobia/transphobia, and some racism. All of this means that this isn't always an easy book to read, and kids may want to talk to an adult about some of it (and kids may also NOT want to talk about some of it, which also needs to be okay). The ending is gloriously positive and optimistic, which may be less than realistic but is great to read.

Oh, and it's also about the fact that there's no such thing as a vegetable. Fruits, flowers, leaves, roots... and we lump them together into a fake category. You work it out.

My Recommendation:
This book is fantastic, and has a really positive message along with some tough times. I'd say it's for sure suitable for 11 and up, and ten-year-olds may be interested as well. It discusses gender identity frankly with characters who are trans, gay, and non-binary, and is justifiably brutal to the homophobic/racist ideas of a couple of characters.   

 

 

FTC Disclosure: I checked Different Kinds of Fruit and Too Bright to See 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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