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    Lily and Dunkin
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    Lily and Dunkin
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    Lily and Dunkin
    Audiobook8 hours

    Lily and Dunkin

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    Narrated by Ryan Gesell and Michael Crouch

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    "Gephart has written a story that will speak not just to one specific community, but to humanity as a whole."  --VOYA

    For readers who enjoyed Wonder and Counting by 7's, award-winning author Donna Gephart crafts a compelling dual narrative about two remarkable young people: Lily, a transgender girl, and Dunkin, a boy dealing with bipolar disorder. Their powerful story will shred your heart, then stitch it back together with kindness, humor, bravery, and love.

    Lily Jo McGrother, born Timothy McGrother, is a girl. But being a girl is not so easy when you look like a boy. Especially when you're in the eighth grade.
     
    Dunkin Dorfman, birth name Norbert Dorfman, is dealing with bipolar disorder and has just moved from the New Jersey town he's called home for the past thirteen years. This would be hard enough, but the fact that he is also hiding from a painful secret makes it even worse. 
     
    One summer morning, Lily Jo McGrother meets Dunkin Dorfman, and their lives forever change.  

    *  2017 Southern Book Award Finalist
    *  Voice Award from the Palm Beach County Action Alliance for Mental Health
    *  NPR's Best Kids' Books of 2016
    *  Chicago Public Library Best Fiction for Older Readers 2016 
    *  New York Public Library Best Books for Kids 2016
    *  Amazon's Top 20 Children's Books of 2016 
    *  Top 10 Audiobooks of 2016, School Library Journal
    * YALSA 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adults
    * YALSA 2017 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
    *  ALA 2017 Rainbow Book List -- GLBTQ Books for Children & Teens
    *  Georgia Book Award, 2017-2018 Nominee
    *  Rhode Island Middle School Book Award Nominee, 2018
    *  Wisconsin State Reading Association's Just One More Page Selection, 2017
    * Indie Next Pick Summer 2016 
    * Junior Library Guild Selection 
    * Goodreads Choice Awards 2016 -- Best Middle Grade & Children's
    * 2016 Nerdy Book Club Award  
    * 2016 Rainbow Awards -- Best Transgender Book 
    * 2016 Spring Okra Pick -- the Best in Southern Literature

    "Gephart clearly has a lot of heart, and she tells their stories with compassion."--Kirkus 

    "A thoughtfully and sensitively written work of character-driven fiction that dramatically addresses two important subjects that deserve more widespread attention."--Booklist, starred 

    "Gephart sympathetically contrasts the physical awkwardness, uncertainty, and longings of these two outsiders during a few tightly-plotted months, building to a crescendo of revelation…[A] valuable portrait of two teenagers whose journeys are just beginning."--PW 
     
    "This would be a fantastic addition to any middle grade library collection, and is highly recommended for all ages."--VOYA
     
    "Lily and Dunkin is a delight. Here's a book for anyone who's ever struggled with being different--or anyone who's ever loved someone who bears the burden of difference. . . . Crucial, heart-breaking, and inspiring." -Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of She's Not There and Stuck in the Middle with You
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMay 3, 2016
    ISBN9780451481955
    Unavailable
    Lily and Dunkin

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    Reviews for Lily and Dunkin

    4.5/5

    84 ratings10 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I LOVED this book. Beautifully written, with an amazing storyline that wasn't overshadowed by the transgender aspect. The transgender issues were perfectly addressed, though, and I highly recommend this book to everyone.
    • 5/5
      I really enjoyed the alternating narrations from Lily and Dunkin. Dunkin is in a new town and he misses and worries about his dad. Lily is wanting to be who she is, but her fears keep her going to school as Tim. When she is presenting herself as Tim, she meets Dunkin and they start a friendship during the last week before school starts. Then Dunkin starts school and for the first time in his life the popular kids want to be his friend. This means he can't talk to Tim. Tim gets made fun of by the popular kids. But Dunkin soon determines that to stay popular and play basketball he must stop taking all of his medicines because they are just slowing him down. Not taking his meds for bipolar disorder is very dangerous, but he thinks he can handle it.

      I liked and cared about the characters. The struggles the kids faced were very real and I thought Dunkin's dilema with wanting to be poplar and wanting to do the right thing were things that people could relate to. A book that will help people have a better understanding of what other people are going through.
    • 3/5
      I found this a little clunky and problem novel-y in places. There aren't that many middle grade-appropriate books about trans kids yet, but they are all starting to sound the same. Each kid speaks about their gender in the same way ("I always knew I was really a girl/boy on the inside"), and they're all about white kids in generic suburbs with fairly generic interests. My genderqueer students don't necessarily speak about gender in that sort of binary -- gender, to much of "Generation Z" (ugh, really, demographers?), has quickly become a fluid spectrum. I'd like to see that more subtlely addressed in a book.

      I found Dunkin's story much more compelling than Lily's. His struggles with mental illness felt more specific and touching, and I don't think I've ever read a book about a middle schooler with bipolar disorder. We definitely need more stories that explore that internal landscape. In the author's note, Gephart writes that Dunkin's story came from her personal experiences, whereas Lily's she had to research as an outsider. Not that authors always have to "write what they know," of course, but in this case I think the discrepancy shows.

      Note: if you're booktalking this, I think p. 94 would make a fun read-aloud.
    • 5/5
      A beautifully written story about two teens grappling with difficult issues. Lily is a transgender teen about to start eighth grade, about to come out to her peers as a girl with a father who can't understand or support her (but with a supportive mother, sister, and best friend). Dunkin is a new kid in town, suffering from bipolar disorder, who tries to hide his condition while seeking popularity with the basketball crowd. Lily and Dunkin form a tenuous friendship that slowly grows into a solid relationship as they navigate bullying and their need for acceptance. Their stories are sensitively and satisfyingly told.
    • 5/5
      This book is perfect for young book groups who want a lot to discuss. Lily is transgender while Dunkin struggles with bipolar disorder. Both of them make imperfect choices and have to find their own way. Happily, it doesn't feel like an "issue" book, it feels like two kids trying to figure out the world.
    • 4/5
      Dunkin moves to Florida with his mother. The first person he meets is a nice guy named Tim, who is wearing a dress. Then he is recruited for the basketball team by a bunch of guys who don't like Tim. Making his decision, he also decides to stop taking his medication so he can play basketball better.
    • 4/5
      Lily was born Tim and is working hard to understand herself and get her family on board too. She wants hormone blockers, she wants to be brave enough to be herself in 8th grade. But it is hard, dealing with her less than accepting dad and the Neanderthal basketball players at school. New kid Norbert is dealing with his own problems in Florida. He's on medication that he has stopped taking. He is hiding a big secret, even from himself. Told in alternating voices, Lily and Dunkin try to muddle through a difficult year and realize that their connection just might help them both.
    • 4/5
      Finished on November 1 2019!
      Overall, it was a majestic book. Great character development, a MAGNIFICENT ENDING, plot twists (to give it a good shake) and OMG, I didn’t know what I expected but it was certainly much more!!! 4.5?
    • 4/5
      Gephart usually writes comedy; but, in this novel, she writes about two challenging topics: transgender and bipolar disorder. This is a novel about accepting not only one’s own identity but other’s identity without judgement. It’s about understanding and loving each other.The novel alternates between Lily and Dunkin. Lily, born Timothy, has always felt like a girl. Her family and best friend are supportive and have no qualms about him being her for the first day of eighth grade. Lily’s father, however, will not allow Tim to be herself. He’ll be made fun of and possibly injured by prejudiced bullies. Dunkin, whose real name is Norbert, has just arrived in town and sees a pretty girl in a dress. Maybe this town won’t be so bad. The pretty girl turns out to be Tim, a boy. Lily can’t tell this stranger she’s a girl, so she lies and says he was dressed like a girl because he was dared. As Lily’s story progresses, she takes small steps to becoming who she truly is. These steps are small because she has to wait for her father to accept her. Norbert really likes Tim because he’s nice, but Norbert really needs to fit in and have friends because he has never had friends, except Phin and Phin didn’t move with them. Norbert and his mom have moved in with his grandmother who is an exercises guru. His father can’t be there, which makes his mother cry a lot. He keeps his secrets, but we know he’s battling bipolar disorder. If he takes his medicine, he can function in society. In his desire to make the basketball team, he chooses to not take his meds in order to get more energy and focus. He wants to help Tim against the basketball bullies, but he can’t even help himself.This novel is very sweet and has a great message about accepting people for who they are and about understanding and helping others. It’s almost too perfect. Everyone is great except the stereotypical bullies, but even they bring about sympathy because their own lives have given them their meanness. The stories are compelling and well-written as well. It’s just covers a lot of topics. We have a transgender character and a bipolar character who both come from great, almost perfect families. Don’t get me wrong. I like that the families are supportive and loving because I get tired of dysfunctional parents in YA novels. The novel is definitely worth your time, especially if you have transgender friends or deal with people who have bipolar disorder. The author’s son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, so the information is accurate and will make you walk in his shoes. The ending touches on another challenging topic for some that won’t come as much of a surprise. It’s a good novel even though it tries to do an awful lot.
    • 5/5
      children's middlegrade/young adult fiction (5th grade and up?); trans girl and bipolar boy experience several trying times during 8th grade. For the first several chapters I was thinking, these kids are so cute, and nothing like the middle-schoolers I remember. Then along comes a group of jocks who bully everyone, and yep, that's more like the middle-schoolers we know and recognize (sigh). Have some tissues handy, because it gets pretty serious in the middle and at the end.

      The characters are wonderfully charming and layered, and while the book dealt a lot with their issues and their self-acceptance, it was also about peer pressure, family relations, friendship, and standing up for what you believe in. A great story on all counts.