This news made me feel both happy and hopeful. As Idris Grey writes in the Publishers Weekly article, “shortly before publication, Gino began to question the title selected for their debut middle grade work. Gino realized. “That’s not the name I want everyone calling her [the titular character] if she were real.” Melissa is the name the character chose for herself at the end of her journey. They hadn’t intended to imply that a trans person should be called by their former name when they’ve chosen another one. But by then, there wasn’t much to be done.”

Six years after the book’s publication and success, Alex started a campaign – renaming a physical copy of “George” “Melissa’s Story” – #SharpieActivism

And then, “Following the positive response from readers to Gino’s social media post, Levithan [the book’s editor] and Scholastic [the book’s publisher] expressed that they were agreeable to the change, and after a meeting, Levithan told Gino, “Now’s the time to do it.”

I’m glad it is working out! And if you have a copy of the book with it’s former title, you can download a new cover at Alex’s website here.

The light in me recognizes and acknowledges the light in you,
Lee