Let's be clear: this is not a book you hand to your 13-year-old without a conversation first. The 'young adult' label is doing heavy lifting here—this is really for older, more mature teens.
That said, for the right reader at the right age, it's genuinely powerful. Johnson writes with the kind of emotional honesty that can make a queer Black teen feel seen for the first time, or help a straight kid understand what their classmate might be going through. The grandmother sections are beautiful. The discussions of consent and healthy relationships are genuinely educational.
But it's also explicit. Like, really explicit. There are detailed sexual scenes and graphic violence. This is why it's the most challenged book in America—not because of some conspiracy, but because it contains content that many parents (reasonably) don't want their 14-year-old encountering without context.
The WISE score reflects this tension: incredibly enriching for its target audience, but with safety concerns that limit its universal appeal. If you have a mature 16+ teen who's queer, questioning, or genuinely committed to understanding LGBTQIA+ experiences, this could be transformative. For younger or less mature readers, wait a few years.






