Is it hard to read?
No, the language is direct and conversational, and the story follows a linear path. The narration stays close to Melissa’s understanding of herself, using she and her from the outset.
Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 18 / 100Light
- Length
- 224 pagesScholastic Press · 2022
- Reading time
- 4 h 30 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Moderate
- Emotional intensity
- 3 / 5
About 4 h 30 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 9 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Fourth grader Melissa knows she’s a girl, but her family and classmates see her as a boy, and she’s afraid to tell them. When her class stages Charlotte’s Web, she longs to play Charlotte, only for her teacher to refuse her an audition because the role must go to a girl. With her best friend Kelly, Melissa looks for a way to take part and be recognized as herself.
Reader notes
Written in direct, accessible language, the middle-grade novel uses she and her from the outset, keeping readers close to Melissa’s understanding of herself. Small moments of domestic humor accompany her fear of how others will react.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Conversational · Direct
- Tone
- Earnest · Hopeful · Intimate · Warm
- Structure
- Linear
- Driven by
- Character · Relationships
- Point of view
- Third person, limited
- Setting
- Domestic · School or campus
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 1 / 5
- Ideas
- 2 / 5
- Structure
- 2 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Belonging
- Coming of age
- Family
- Friendship
- Gender
- Identity
Content notes
- Violence
- Mild
- Sexual content
- Mild
- Swearing
- Mild
- Substance use
- None
- Abuse
- Mild
- Self-harm or suicide
- None
Standing and awards
Established
- Stonewall Book Award, 2016
Questions readers ask
Does it feel sad or hopeful?
The tone is warm and hopeful, though Melissa is afraid of how her family and classmates will react to knowing she’s a girl. Small moments of domestic humor accompany that fear, with friendship and recognition central to her story.
Who is it best suited to?
It suits a middle-grade audience interested in stories about identity, friendship, and belonging at school and at home. Melissa’s wish to play Charlotte in the class production gives those concerns a concrete focus.
How does it explore gender and identity?
Melissa knows she’s a girl; the tension comes from others seeing her as a boy and her fear of telling them. Her teacher’s refusal to let her audition for Charlotte makes being recognized as herself central to the story.
How long is it?
About 224 pages in the Scholastic Press 2022 edition.
Which edition is shown here?
Scholastic Press · 2022 · Paperback. ISBN 9781338843415.
How long does it take to read Melissa?
About 4 hours 30 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 224-page Scholastic Press edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Alex Gino
Alex Gino writes direct, conversational fiction for young readers, centering queer and transgender children as they navigate family, school, friendship, and the problem of being recognized on their own terms. Their stories often give these pressures a practical structure. In Melissa, a transgender fourth grader’s wish to play Charlotte in a school production turns an audition and backstage work into the narrative engine. Alice Austen Lived Here follows two nonbinary seventh graders researching a nearly forgotten lesbian photographer, widening Gino’s attention from present-day self-expression to queer history. Character and relationships stay in the foreground, with concrete shared projects carrying the larger questions.
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Edition and details
- Publisher
- Scholastic Press
- Publication year
- 2022
- Format
- Paperback
- Pages
- 224
- ISBN
- 9781338843415
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 2015
- Genres and form
- Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Children's · Literary fiction · Coming of age · Contemporary literary
- Editions
- 16
- Languages
- 2 (English, Dutch)