Beautiful Music for Ugly Children

By Kirstin Cronn-Mills

"This is Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, on community radio 90.3, KZUK. I’m Gabe. Welcome to my show."

My birth name is Elizabeth, but I’m a guy. Gabe. My parents think I’ve gone crazy and the rest of the world is happy to agree with them, but I know I’m right. I’ve been a boy my whole life.

When you think about it, I’m like a record. Elizabeth is my A side, the song everybody knows, and Gabe is my B side—not heard as often, but just as good.

It’s time to let my B side play.

Winner of the 2014 Stonewall Book Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature.

Praise:
“Every so often a book comes along that is so sharp, so moving, so real, and so good, you want to press it into everyone’s hands and say, Read this! READ THIS!”—Courtney Summers, author of Cracked Up to Be and This is Not a Test

• Language: English
• Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide
• Release date: Oct 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9780738732657

Kirstin Cronn-Mills

Kirstin Cronn-Mills, PhD, teaches writing, literature, and critical thinking at South Central College in North Mankato, Minnesota. She writes fiction, poetry, and nonfiction books and articles. Her young adult fiction and nonfiction have been honored several times, including a Minnesota Book Award nomination for LGBTQ+ Athletes Claim the Field in 2017. LGBTQ+ Athletes was also a 2016 Junior Library Guild selection, a 2017 American Library Association Rainbow List selection, and a 2017 Best Children's Books of the Year selection from Bank Street College.

Reviews for Beautiful Music for Ugly Children

[ceilidhann · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Between 3.4 and 4 stars. Fuck yeah, YA with trans protagonist. Review to come.

[cheryl_in_cc_nv · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Probably not the best book that could be written about a teen trans man, but the only one I've read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The parents' reaction didn't feel quite authentic to me, and the scary part seemed (though not impossible) a little over-the-top, and there were some trivial inconsistencies that distracted me (was the shirt from Target Stones or Ramones? Is Pete one or two years behind Gabe?), and the book covered a *lot* ground in its effort to be a complete primer for the reader with questions.

Otoh, I appreciated that Gabe was more interesting than just another adorable queer teen, and that he doesn't get a clean, all threads tied up, HEA ending. I appreciated that there was just a little sex & alcohol... the seniors in high school aren't naive, but aren't already recovering addicts, either.

Read with access to tunes if you can - the soundtrack is important.
(Otoh, I didn't listen, but then, I already knew much of the music.)

Highly recommended if you're a parent, teacher, or are interested in 'queer' teens - but not if you're not because I don't think it quite transcends to the universal.

[susan.macura · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of Gabe/Liz, a teen born a girl but who feels most comfortable as a boy. Gabe has known this since being a small child from wanting to line up with the boys in school, etc. His best friend Paige does her best to be supportive and understanding, even while coping with her changing feelings for Gabe. His family loves him, does not always understand, but really tries to make Gabe happy. His neighbor John, a music collector and former DJ, gets Gabe involved in the music scene and a gig as a DJ each week where he soon has a following. The Ugly Children Brigade start performing stunts based on his weekly show that capture the essence of the week’s theme. They memorialize them in photos on Facebook. However, all is not perfect and a few bullies take matters into their own hands, creating the crisis in the book. This is a wonderful story of a transsexual teen finding his way.

[russianlovemachine · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gabe rules the radio on his weekly midnight show, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, but during the day he's stuck being Liz. Gabe's always known that he's really a boy, but his parents have been cold and distant ever since he told them the truth. His best friend Paige is there for him, even though she's hovering between friend and more than friend, and Gabe's next door neighbor John is his music guru and guide.When a disastrous date ends in Gabe's outing, he faces not just ridicule but danger. Will the Ugly Children Brigade stick by him, or will he have to face the music alone?An engaging read for music nerds and fans of complex, conflicted everyday heroes. The Author's Notes in the back are a little didactic, but they're good for anyone who wants further information about transgender issues.

[lcaitday · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Age 15-18. An eighteen year old transitioning, transman navigates coming of age while rocking a major music obsession. Gabe is about to graduate from high school, where everyone still knows him as Liz and he cannot wait for the freedom of a new life. Gabe’s dream is to work in radio and his neighbor John, scores him a one night a week DJ gig, where Gabe earns himself a fan club. From there the reader sees Gabe navigate everything from crushes and dating, to bullying, hate crimes and a moment of suicide contemplation. The novel does end in hope, with Gabe finding acceptance and moving towards the future he wants. The writing unfortunately comes off as awkward and use of an extensive metaphor about the A and B-sides of records seems very cheesy. At the end of the novel Cronn-Mills adds a helpful note explaining the trans* umbrella for audience members not familiar with terms she uses, but parts of it would be more useful as a preface or within the text itself. In the end this book would best serve music lovers with its many radio references and artists mentioned, in addition to readers looking for fictional trans representation. Recommended.

[brainannex · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really a wonderful book about trying to be who you are and not always succeeding. Great for any T folks out there.

[schatzi_5 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Gabe is a boy who was born into a girl's body. His family isn't accepting of this fact - the only few people who are include his neighbor, John, who is just as obsessed with music as Gabe is; and Gabe's best friend, Paige. Everyone else seems intent on calling Gabe by his given name, Elizabeth, and treating him like this is just a weird phase. But Gabe lands a gig hosting a radio show on the local public radio station, and this lets him be who he really is - letting his "B side" of Gabe play over the radio waves. Arrgh, I wanted to like this book so much, and I just couldn't. I was super-excited to read a book with a trans* character as the main character, and even more so that Gabe is FtM. Coupled with the overwhelmingly amazing reviews that this book has received, and I was so incredibly sure that I would love this book.I did not.I don't have a problem with the writing, although the chapter titles got annoying fast. The book was rather readable, although to me, it never lost the feel of an "issue book." Gabe never felt like a real character to me.It also didn't help that I really hated seeing the book through Gabe's eyes. Ugh. I just intensely disliked Gabe as a person. Gabe viewed the teenaged girls in his life as objects of his lust without fail - he was always checking out various girls and commenting about their bodies (even his best friend, Paige). Can I say how much I hate that? Because I so do. I can understand that Gabe is trying to establish some sort of genuine masculine framework here, and maybe that was how he thought women should be treated, but no. Just.freaking.no. Dislike.Also, the whole "Ugly Children Brigade." Haha. Seriously? Gabe himself says repeatedly that his show sucks - in fact, that is how he answers the phone most of the time while hosting the show. And yet his show, which plays at midnight on the public radio channel, seems to have garnered him a cult following. Ummm...why? None of his "speeches" or rants were particularly inspiring to me, and even as someone who had been a queer youth at one point, I could not see myself doing anything except rolling my eyes and flipping the channel if I had happened upon this radio station. And that was back in the nineties - do kids even listen to the radio anymore? My niece, who is eight, thinks that the "radio" is the same thing as Sirius XM. And for supposedly knowing so freaking much about music, Gabe seemed to rely completely on John, his neighbor and mentor of sorts, to select nearly all of it for him. John entered Gabe into a contest where the contestants had to pick five summer songs, and John picked them all for Gabe. And John kept suggesting and burning songs for Gabe's radio show. Gabe didn't seem to even know about the music he supposedly loved to host a radio show once a week, much less pursue a career in this field.I'm bummed that I didn't like the book, but I'm still glad that it is out there. We need more diverse books out there, and I think that trans* characters, when they exist, are regulated into stereotypes or near invisibility. It sucked like hell to feel all alone when I was a teenager, and even though today's teens have more ways to explore and connect with others like them (the internet, for example), I think it is still vital to represent all different types of people in literature, especially books geared toward the young. I'd love to read more books with trans* characters in them.

[Cliff Thompson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing and timely read. So glad to have a new identity with the ugly children's brigade! (Ps, I' m almost 50!)

[goorgoahead · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

See the full review at Short & Sweet Reviews.

I am always anxious when reading "issues" books that have anything to do with gender, sexuality, or mental illness. They're issues which are close to me personally and which I feel are really important to get right. Getting them wrong is a disservice to readers in general, and to people who may identify with those characters in specific. So I was understandably a bit nervous when beginning Beautiful Music for Ugly Children. YA books featuring transgender narrators (or trans characters in general) are few and far between, and the story was handled well, it could be beautiful, but if it was handled poorly, I would have had to drag out the soapbox for a lot of complaining.

Fortunately, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children handles Gabe's story quite well. It's not a perfect story, but it is told in a sensitive, realistic manner. The book is written as if Gabe is partly speaking to the reader, and his story is told in a no-nonsense, no-fuss sort of way. Gabe's feelings about being trans, about having been born into the wrong body, are presented in an easy to understand manner, even for readers who may not have any exposure to the subject matter before.

I enjoyed reading about Gabe's journey -- well, enjoyed is a strong word, whenever so much of his life goes awry because people don't understand him, but you know what I mean. He is a cool guy who just needs people to accept him as he is. As a radio DJ myself, I really loved the bits where Gabe is learning to do his show. Gabe has a couple of "oh crap!!" moments that every new DJ has which I could really identify with. Music was a really important part of the story, and Gabe's eclectic music tastes really made me happy.

Like most contemporary issues books, I found the ending to be a bit too easy -- things wrapped up very neatly, bad people are punished, good people are celebrated, etc. That's now how life usually is, however, especially for a transperson, who is statistically more likely to experience bullying, harassment, and assault and is more likely to have attempted suicide. So the fact that things just all end on a relatively positive note is great for providing hope to readers, but is not particularly realistic in light of the situation.

[zabetreading · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This and other reviews can be found on Reading Between Classes

Cover Impressions: The cover grabbed me enough to make me take a look at the synopsis, so that is something. I like the graffiti feel of it, but would prefer for it to be a little more gritty, like an image taken from an overpass - raw and real.

The Gist: Beautiful Music for Ugly Children chronicles a few, particularly eventful months in the life of Gabe, a teenaged transexual boy. Gabe was born Elizabeth and has recently "come out" to his parents about his true sexuality and his decision to stop hiding. He has also begun working on a late night radio show which forces him into the spotlight and endangers himself, his friends and his family when some people decide that Gabe would be better off staying hidden.

Review: I chose to request this galley because I have read so little YA fiction that features trans characters. As a teacher, I am always trying to find ways to better understand the struggles that my students might be going through and I hoped Beautiful Music for Ugly Children might provide some insight. This was one of the books high points. It was interesting and sometimes moving to watch the characters as they struggled with Liz's decision to start living as Gabe. There was some conflict between he and his best friend as she tried to decide what their new relationship would look like and where the boundary lines lay. There was also a struggle in his parents that I, as a mom, could understand. Having raised Elizabeth from a little girl, her parents displayed feelings of anger, disbelief and guilt as they struggled to accept her as Gabe and to change the way that their family interacted. It is easy for books like this to try to do too much and to make a complete 180 from emotional wreak to warm, loving family, but I feel like Beautiful Music for Ugly Children didn't make this leap and that it showed, instead, a believable level of growth on the part of the parents.

This novel had some great potential and it touched on some very important themes. However, I feel that it could have done more. There was the underlying threat of violence but this never felt entirely real. If the author had chosen to start off small and build toward the ultimate showdown, I think it would have felt more realistic. There was also the tendency for things to be a little too easy. There just happens to be an automatic audience to a brand new radio show that is so enthralled by the DJ's music choices that they take on tasks to please him? There just happens to be a radio contest looking for a young, fresh DJ to launch their career? The transgendered kid comes out and is immediately embraced by his (hot) best friend and pursued by his (also hot) classmate? Opportunities seemed to fall in Gabe's lap and things were a little too convienent for my taste.

I also had a little trouble connecting with the character of Gabe. I liked him, sure. But I didn't really CARE about him. There was something I couldn't put my finger on stopped me from emphasizing with him. Perhaps it was the length. This is a short novel, and there was A LOT crammed into those pages. That didn't leave a lot of room for character development or back-story. I really would have preferred if the novel started with Liz, a closeted transgendered kid, and then chronicled her transition to Gabe and coming out to her family and friends, rather than to have started after all that occurred.

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children fell short of my expectations, but was still a good read that provided some insight into the feelings of a teen in transition.

Teaching/Parental Notes:

Age: 16 and up
Gender: Either
Sex: Kissing, Talk of Erections, Allusions to Sex
Violence: Threats, Sexual Violence, Attack with a Baseball Bat
Inappropriate Language: LOTS! Bitch, Ass, Dick, Shit, Carpet Muncher, Goddamn, Jesus, Pussy
Substance Use/Abuse: Smoking, Underage Drinking

[Gabryel Alloway-Icarus Bertello · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

what an awesome book! cis people: THIS is how you write trans characters! the author, despite being cis, did a very wonderful job at expressing the ftm struggle, and was very respectful.

[melissarochelle_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Nothing I write will do this book justice, but I will say this: it's worth reading. Unlike characters in other novels dealing with identity, Gabe knows who he is but he has to convince everyone else. I think this is a great readalike for fans of Ask The Passengers and Every Day.

[abbylibrarian_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gabe is finally embracing his B side. Born Elizabeth, Gabe has always known he was a boy. Now that graduation is looming, he's decided to live as Gabe full-time. His parents are having a hard time dealing with it, but he's got the support of his BFF (and, incidentally, his crush) Paige. Plus, there's his weekly radio show, Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, where he surprisingly connects with a community of listeners, despite the late air time. Not everyone in his small Minnesota town is supportive, though, and when people start to threaten his family and friends, Gabe starts to question whether being true to himself is worth what might happen to his loved ones. This is a beautifully written story that shows the pain of being caught between two lives, of having to make decisions when there aren't really any choices to be had. It's a story of finding beauty and love where you'd never expect it. And it's a story about the B side in everyone.