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Girl Mans Up Paperback – January 16, 2018

by M-E Girard (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 249 ratings
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Lambda Literary Award Winner! “Pen is an inspiration to anyone who’s struggled to be understood, and a vital addition to the growing world of genderqueer protagonists.” —New York Times Book Review

All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she’s always been. So why does everyone have a problem with it?

They think the way she looks and acts means she’s trying to be a boy—that she should quit trying to be something she’s not. If she dresses like a girl, and does what her folks want, it will show respect. If she takes orders and does what her friend Colby wants, it will show her loyalty.

But respect and loyalty, Pen discovers, are empty words. Old-world parents, disintegrating friendships, and strong feelings for other girls drive Pen to see the truth—that in order to be who she truly wants to be, she’ll have to man up.

Now available in paperback, M. E. Girard’s Girl Mans Up is perfect for fans of Meredith Russo, Becky Albertalli, Alex Sanchez, and Jaye Robin Brown!

Entertainment Weekly Best YA Book of 2016 * Children’s Book Council Books Best Book of 2016 * Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Coming-of-Age Novel of 2016 and Best Teen Book of 2016 with Unforgettable Protagonists * Publishers Weekly Fall 2016 Flying Starts * William C. Morris YA Debut Award Finalist

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    HarperCollins
  4. Publication date
    January 16, 2018
  5. Grade level
    9 - 12
  6. Reading age
    14 - 17 years
  7. Dimensions
    1.1 x 5.2 x 7.9 inches
  8. ISBN-10
    0062404180
  9. ISBN-13
    978-0062404183
  10. Lexile measure
    HL620L
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A powerful book about identity, belonging, and the collision between sexuality and cultural expectations.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“This is a fresh title in the growing sea of LGBTQ YA literature. There is no sugarcoating in this very real portrayal of an aspect of teen life that many experience. Recommended for fans of YA urban fiction as well as those who prefer grittier LGBTQ lit.” — School Library Journal (starred review)

“Fierce. Tender. Unstoppable.” — Lauren Myracle, New York Times bestselling author of The Infinite Moment of Us and co-author of How to Be Bad

“Original. Courageous. Vibrant.” — Michael Cart, Columnist at ALA Booklist and Former President of Young Adult Library Services Michael Cart, Editor of Taking Aim and How Beautiful the Ordinary

“Heartfelt. Refreshing. True.” — Ariel Schrag, author of Potential and Adam

“I loved it. A brilliant new writer to watch.” — Malinda Lo, author of Ash, Adaptation, and Inheritance and co-founder of Diversity in YA

“Respeito for Pen.” — Sara Ryan, Award winning author of Empress of the World and Bad Houses

“Raw. Real. Irresistable.” — I.W. Gregorio, author of None of the Above

“Girard explores questions of family, friendship, loyalty, and identity through the voice of Pen Oliveira, a 16-year old girl ... [She] forcefully conveys the fear Pen lives with, having experienced frequent mockery and bullying, and her courage in aspiring to a safe, loving community for herself and her friends.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

About the Author

M-E Girard’s debut, Girl Mans Up, won the Lambda Literary Award and was a finalist for the William C. Morris Award. She lives just outside of Toronto, Canada, where she splits her time between writing YA fiction, being a mom to a toddler, and working as a registered nurse. M-E dedicated the bulk of her nursing career to working with special-needs kids, and more recently she was an ER and ICU nurse during the first waves of the pandemic. A 2013 and 2015 Lambda Literary Fellow, M-E is a proud feminist who is endlessly fascinated with what it means to be a girl—especially a queer, fat girl. You can find her online at www.megirard.com.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins; Reprint edition (January 16, 2018)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0062404180
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0062404183
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 - 17 years
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ HL620L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 9 - 12
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.5 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 1.1 x 5.2 x 7.9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 249 ratings

About the author

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M-E Girard.

M-E Girard.

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M-E Girard lives just outside Toronto, where she splits her time between writing YA fiction about badass teenage girls and working as a registered nurse. Her debut novel GIRL MANS UP (2016, HarperCollins), was a Lambda Literary Award winner, a William C. Morris YA Debut Award finalist, a finalist of the KOBO Emerging Writer Prize, a recipient of starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and School Library Journal, and a White Pine nominee. It was also reviewed by the New York Times and recognized as best book by The Globe and Mail and CCBC Books. M-E spent 15 years working as a community pediatric nurse then 2 years on the front lines as an ER nurse during the Covid-19 pandemic. A 2013 and 2015 Lambda Literary Fellow, M-E is a proud feminist who is endlessly fascinated by the good, the bad, and the ugly regarding the concept of gender. You can find her online at www.megirard.com and on all the social media platforms.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
249 global ratings
I couldn't put it down!
5 Stars
I couldn't put it down!
I could not put this book down! Finally a fully-formed, queer and masculine female protagonist! A wonderful addition to the YA landscape. Everyone should read this!
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Top reviews from the United States

Rachel Kramer Bussel
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent YA novel about love, family, respect, loyalty and queerness
Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2016
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I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when I started Girl Mans Up, and as the story unfolded, I kept being unsure, in a good way. Girard does an excellent job of keeping the reader guessing while also taking us deeply into family dynamics, complicated friendships, new love and navigating queerness on multiple levels. I don't play video games save for Wii ones, while Pen, the protagonist of Girl Mans Up, is a fierce gamer. She's pretty much considered one of the guys among her guy friends, which is how she likes it. But when she starts to realize that maybe some of her friendships aren't based on loyalty (the same concept being drilled into her at home by her tough Portuguese parents, who insist she pay respeito to them), but rather on not so subtle coercive tactics, she starts to question who she should ally herself with. She also falls in love after many unrequited crushes on girls, and all of these subjects, as well as abortion, are dealt with realistically. There are no stock characters here, no easy answers about gender, sex, family or love. Instead, there's a lot of tough choices, like whether to stay at home where she feels misunderstood or move in with her older brother Johnny, who she idolizes. Pen isn't a perfect character, but even when she makes mistakes, she's likable because Girard has imbued her with so much heart. She sticks to her guns and insists on a gender presentation and identity that is her own, not what other people want to make her into or what would be supposedly "easier" for the world to understand. And while the book is not "about" abortion, its treatment of the subject as highly personal, confusing and often lonely is dealt with exquisitely here, by making it both a fact of life but not something the character contemplating it takes at all lightly.
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Whitt Patrick Pond
5.0 out of 5 stars "In the mirror, I see myself standing there and I think I'm all right."
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2017
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There are times when I feel that categorizing a book as YA (Young Adult) is unfortunate as it might keep people from reading it by giving the mistaken impression that YA novels are _only_ for young adults. Girl Mans Up is definitely one of those books that proves this impression wrong.

Penelope, Oliveira, or "Pen" as she prefers to be called, is a sixteen-year-old Canadian girl living in the outskirts of Toronto with her old-fashioned Portuguese parents and her older brother, Johnny. Her mom wants her to stop wearing boys' clothes and dress more like a princesa (a princess). Her dad is constantly reminding her - and Johnny - to show respeito (respect). Her best friend Colby wants her to just be one of the guys - or to be exact, one of _his_ guys - increasingly demanding that she show her loyalty. But Pen just wants to be herself - whatever that is - without the constant pressure from everyone to be something else.

Highly, highly recommended for anyone who likes a good coming-of-age novel about about identity, about the challenges of love, friendship and family that come up while you're figuring out who you are, and about ultimately carving out space for yourself so that you can simply be yourself.
20 people found this helpful
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Brooke Stone
4.0 out of 5 stars Important story with a few minor problems
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2018
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The primary complaints are only with general style and other subjective things. I can't give this lower than a 4 star for anything like that. Pen is a very interesting character and her relationships and family are well developed. It was a very fun book to read and I loved the plot as a whole.
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Kim Chatel
5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging story with rich characterization
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2016
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M-E Girard is a master at characterization. There are no stereotypes in this story, no cardboard cutouts. Each character--even the peripheral ones--is unique and intriguing. A few of them I wanted to slap. Some of them I wanted to hug, but each one pulled out some kind of emotion from me.

Pen is a young woman struggling with all the usual teen-age problems--school, parents and relationships--but she's also struggling to keep her unique identity while others continually try to tear her down. I read this book quickly because once I started, I couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.
3 people found this helpful
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Eric Stout
3.0 out of 5 stars Very good
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2019
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Wonderful read, has a lot of cliches though. The main character was kind of an idiot, but that kind of comes with the genre. Older brother was awesome.
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TKDR762
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a love story.
Reviewed in the United States on August 15, 2020
Verified Purchase
I found this book to be a beautiful story about "does she get the girl?" It's a story of self worth, finding one self and accepting acceptance by everyone involved. It's a simple story told over and over again, but from a point of view from someone seldom heard from. I'm a middle school teacher and this book will be prominently displayed in by book collection in my classroom.
One person found this helpful
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Silla Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars My entire family loves this book
Reviewed in the United States on October 2, 2016
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I absolutely loved this book. I wish there were more fully realized novels dealing with gender and society's rigidness regarding gender. What this book accomplishes, I've not seen before. Pen (great name), née Penelope, pushes the boundaries of other people's expectations regarding gender, just while being her own, unique, cool self. Pen is not struggling with "figuring out" who she's is, but is struggling with how to deal with others' reactions to her. As a mother of a somewhat similar young kid, Pen represents to me a truly gorgeous role model for my daughter, unapologetic for being her own person, true to her own permutation of gender, trying to be her best self while shedding those who can't just love her for who she is.
4 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Cayo Campos
4.0 out of 5 stars Diferente e importante
Reviewed in Brazil on July 24, 2018
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Adorei como a história se desenvolveu e comos os personagens amadureceram ao decorrer das páginas.
Pen è uma protagonista bastante diferente das que estamos acostumados a ler, além de ser lésbica, não se veste ou age como a sociedade espera (e muitas vezes força), das mulheres, o que me deu uma visão totalmente única em relação a outros livros.
Outro ponto positivo è a relação entre Pen e seu irmão mais velho e o quanto isso agrega a história.
Um aspecto que me deixava muito desconfortável sempre que surgia era que, por Pen não ter uma ligação com o que è considerado feminino, senti que ela tratava a característica do ser feminino como inferior.

No geral um bom livro, que trata sobre sexualidade e gênero de uma maneira que eu não tinha lido antes.
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Pers
5.0 out of 5 stars Gripping and almost impossible to put down
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 2, 2018
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This book had been on my radar for a while, and when I got it I read it in the space of only a few hours as I could hardly bear to put it down (going to work was torture!). I related to Pen a good deal, and found her a compelling and thought-provoking character. I think this book is a much-needed entry into the YA ‘canon’ – particularly for girls who don’t fit the societal norms for what being a girl should be.
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Heidi G. Croot
5.0 out of 5 stars A teenage protagonist you won't forget
Reviewed in Canada on November 27, 2016
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I’m more an OA than a YA reader, but this novel worked some time travel magic on me.

The teenage protagonist, Pen, was the primary hook: her voice, her authenticity, the centre of her that holds no matter who threatens it—she draws me into her corner on page one.

There is an artlessness in the way Pen addresses sexuality—her own and others’—that makes it safe to be both curious and fiercely supportive.

In fact, the writing is so now and fresh that I feel as if I’m learning about her even as she learns about herself. I’m not ahead of her, as with an unreliable narrator (Pen is utterly reliable), or behind her, trying to catch up, but beside her as she defines what respect means to her, and sets out her boundaries.

The result of this transparency is that Pen’s differentness doesn’t present to the reader as a wall, but rather as a moving walkway, with room for two.

M-E Girard achieves an expert weave of primary and secondary relationship, plots and sub-plots, and themes in conflict (optics, assumptions, respect), all of it linking to and informing everything else. At the heart of it, almost everyone in this book has room to man up. Some do, some go half the distance, others collapse under the weight of their egos and assumptions.

Bullies, betrayals, truth and lies, friendship, gaming, music, teachers, family, school projects, a whiff or two of narcissism—it’s all here, including a primer, for those of us who have lived a cloistered life, on the many shades of personal truth and the wonderful, chewy stew of what it is to be human.

The novel targeted me with a direct hit: “At some point, we all have to man up and decide to do what we have to do, despite the people around us who try to get in the way.”

Here’s one of my favourite passages: “I think about how I want to be when I grow up. I want to be just like my brother. That’s the kind of girl I want to be.”

Loved this book. I’m putting it under a few Christmas trees.
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Lisa Adams
5.0 out of 5 stars LBTQ Fiction with Universal Appeal
Reviewed in Canada on June 27, 2017
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Pen has always been mistaken for a boy. At sixteen, she is facing pressure from her very old-world family, her friends and society as a whole. She should have grown out of the tomboy phase by now. While she is figuring out who she is and who she wants to be, she has to deal with parental disapproval, family upheaval and toxic friendships. But she also learns about what makes a real friend and experiences her first love, for the beautiful Blake.

I flat-out loved this book. Its biggest strength, I felt, were the characters. They were all so well done that felt for each one of them. Except for Colby. He's a jerk. I was rooting for Pen from the very first page and it was a joy to see her become herself.

While "Girl Mans Up" is rightfully classed as "LGBTQ Fiction," I think it has a more universal appeal. Even as a (mostly) heterosexual woman, I found myself identifying with Pen. Most of us have experienced being an outcast and/or disapproval from family for myriad reasons and we all want to see that part of us overcome our obstacles.
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Niamh
5.0 out of 5 stars Buy this book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 31, 2018
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Love love LOVE this book is everything its written so well i just cant forget it
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