MINI REVIEW: There is a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom

I thought this book was about a trans boy. Yeah, it’s not, (although we so need more trans characters in kids books.) However, take a look at these covers: can you see how I made my mistake?

‘There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom’ is actually about this boy called Bradley who nobody wants to be friends with because he lies all the time, but this changes. Eventually.

I was drawn to the book because I was forced to read ‘Holes’ by Louis Sachar in Primary School and secretly really enjoyed it. However, it became quite clear pretty early on that this book was written for Primary School kids too. I don’t read a lot of MG Fiction (because we’re American now) but it was actually quite relaxing to have the biggest problems in the book being who Bradley is going to sit with at lunch time. But, that was also my biggest problem: there really wasn’t much plot; Bradley was THE most infuriating character. So many of his actions really annoyed me – it was quite sad watching him turn all these people away from him.

DID YOU KNOW this novel was published in 1987? Yeah, me neither – further proving my conspiracy theory that the book is actually about a transgender child growing up in the 80’s when that was oppressed. Possibly too deep for kids book, but still…

I’m not sure what age I would recommend for ‘There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom’ because whilst the stuff they do in lessons is pretty basic, Bradley does talk about making out and looking at girl’s underwear. Totally normal 10 year old behaviour. I did enjoy it as something different though, and I read a lot of reviews raving about it behind a childhood classic. Let me know in the comments if you’ve read it, have any comments on the book or just want to say hi 🙂

HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF BOOKS RATING: 3.5 stars

MG: Middle Grade Books (8-12 years old) (I think) (American schools are confusing)
YA: Young Adult Books (13+ ish. )