Who is it aimed at?
Young people growing up LGBTQ+ are the main audience, with explanations of sexual orientation, gender identity, labels and stereotypes. Guidance for parents and carers also addresses how to support a young person.
Nonfiction · Reference · Social Science · Health & Medicine
This Book Is Gay
Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 22 / 100Light
- Length
- 320 pagesSourcebooks Fire · 2021
- Reading time
- 6 h 30 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Brisk
- Emotional intensity
- 2 / 5
About 6 h 30 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 13 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Juno Dawson’s guide to growing up LGBTQ+ addresses sexual orientation, gender identity and the practical questions that come with understanding yourself. She explains identity labels and stereotypes, discusses whether and when to come out, and covers meeting people, dating, communicating with partners and sexual health, including safer sex and sexually transmitted infections. Personal accounts introduce experiences beyond her own, while guidance for parents and carers considers how to support a young person.
Reader notes
Conversational, frank and full of cartoons and jokes, the YA nonfiction treats potentially awkward questions as ordinary subjects for discussion. Sex receives direct, practical explanation as part of health and relationships.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Conversational · Direct · Witty
- Tone
- Earnest · Hopeful · Humorous · Warm
- Structure
- Reference
- Driven by
- Ideas · Information · Relationships
- Evidence style
- Personal experience · Research synthesis
- Practical orientation
- Actionable
- Nonfiction form
- Explanation synthesis · Prescriptive how to
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 2 / 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
- Community
- Gender
- Identity
- Love
- Sexuality
Content notes
- Violence
- Mild
- Sexual content
- Mild
- Swearing
- Mild
- Substance use
- Mild
- Abuse
- Mild
- Self-harm or suicide
- None
Questions readers ask
Does it offer practical advice?
Yes, it addresses whether and when to come out, meeting people, dating and communicating with partners. Sexual health guidance covers safer sex and sexually transmitted infections, alongside explanations of identity and personal accounts.
How directly does it discuss sex?
Sex receives direct, practical explanation as part of health and relationships, including safer sex and sexually transmitted infections. Sexual content is mild, but the discussion is frank and treats potentially awkward questions as ordinary subjects.
Is it hard to read?
No, the conversational, direct prose explains identity labels and practical questions without requiring prior knowledge. Cartoons, jokes and a brisk pace make the reference material approachable, while personal accounts introduce experiences beyond Dawson’s own.
How long is it?
About 320 pages in the Sourcebooks Fire 2021 edition. The reference structure, cartoons and brisk pace help keep the explanations moving.
Which edition is shown here?
Sourcebooks Fire · 2021 · paperback. ISBN 9781728254326.
How long does it take to read This Book Is Gay?
About 6 hours 30 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 320-page Sourcebooks Fire edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Juno Dawson
Juno Dawson is an English author whose work spans young adult fiction and nonfiction as well as adult writing about gender. LGBTQ characters and questions of representation recur throughout her career. Her nonfiction favors direct, conversational explanation over academic distance. This Book Is Gay combines clear accounts of sexuality, gender, prejudice, and coming out with first-person testimony, humor, practical advice, and reference material, moving from definitions toward the ordinary business of dating, sex, relationships, and community. In The Gender Games, Dawson addresses gender for adult readers while drawing on her own experience.
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Edition and details
- Publisher
- Sourcebooks Fire
- Publication year
- 2021
- Format
- paperback
- Pages
- 320
- ISBN
- 9781728254326
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 2014
- Genres and form
- Nonfiction · Reference · Social Science · Health & Medicine · Self-Help · Young Adult · Social science · Relationship advice
- Editions
- 14
- Languages
- 3 (English, Spanish, Unspecified)