Notes For August 25th, 2026
This Day In Literary History
On August 25th, 2015, Melissa, the classic first novel by the famous American young adult writer Alex Gino, was published. It was originally published under the title George - a mistake that the author admitted and rectified in 2022, republishing the book under the title it should have had from the beginning.
The novel's first working title was Girl George, a reference to the legendary gender bending Irish pop singer Boy George. The publisher, Scholastic, changed it to George, believing that kids in 2015 wouldn't get the Boy George reference. As we'll see, that too was a mistake.
The title character, Melissa, is a spunky, endearing ten-year-old girl who lives with her teenage brother Scott and their single mom. Melissa and Scott's father is not part of their lives. Melissa is just like other girls her age, except for one thing - one big problem.
Nobody can see Melissa. When people look at her, all they see is George, an awkward boy ostracized for his girlishness. But our heroine is not a boy - she's a girl. She always knew it, and she's tired of living a lie. It's time for everyone to see who she really is.
She especially wants her family to see, but could never bring herself to come out as transgender to them, for fear that they'd disown her. So, she tried to pass herself off as a boy and went by her birth name, George. But she's not George and never was - she's always been Melissa.
Her best (and only) friend, Kelly, who loved having George for a best friend because he was more like a girl than a boy, isn't surprised when Melissa reveals herself and accepts her as a transgender girl. As far as Kelly is concerned, she and Melissa are still best friends.
When their teacher Miss Udell announces that she will begin casting students for the fourth grade play, Charlotte's Web, Melissa desperately wants to play the title role. Miss Udell turns her down, telling her that only a girl can play Charlotte - but she can play Wilbur.
Kelly gets the role of Charlotte, but comes up with the perfect plan. There will be two performances of the play, so for the evening show, Melissa can play Charlotte. She'll be wearing a costume and mask, so Miss Udell won't know until the end.
Meanwhile, Melissa must deal with Jeff, the class bully. He's more than that - he's a virulent homophobic bigot. Mistaking her for a gay boy, he persecutes Melissa, who takes revenge by sticking a sign to his back that reads BIG JERK - which stains and ruins his favorite shirt.
She didn't mean to ruin his shirt, but Jeff attacks Melissa, viciously punching her in the stomach - and causing her to vomit all over him. Both kids are sent to the principal's office, where Melissa finds that the woman is sympathetic to transgender people.
Things go from bad to worse when Melissa's mother discovers her secret collection of magazines. Not dirty magazines like her brother thought - girls' magazines, with articles on fashion, makeup, and dating boys. Mom tells Melissa that she's a boy, not a girl, so act like one.
Dreading it but not knowing where else to turn, Melissa comes out as transgender to her brother Scott, a typical teenage boy who loves video games and gross stuff. She's stunned and moved when Scott not only accepts her as transgender, but offers to talk to Mom for her.
On the night of Melissa's debut in Charlotte's Web, her mother and brother attend the evening show, because she's part of the stage crew. Melissa delivers an amazing performance as Charlotte, then takes off her mask and reveals herself to everyone.
She gets a huge ovation, but her mother is angry with her, thinking that it was an unfunny prank. When Melissa finally tells her that she's transgender, her mother gets very upset and can't deal with it. Her brother tries to help, but Melissa worries that Mom will never accept her.
After some soul searching, Melissa's mother accepts her as a transgender girl, telling her that the road ahead will be rough for all of them, but they'll get through it - as a family. The novel ends with Melissa accompanying her friend Kelly on a planned trip to the zoo with Kelly's uncle.
With some encouragement and clothes from Kelly, Melissa presents herself as a girl for the first time, a profound and joyous experience for her - the beginning of her transition.
Written to encourage tolerance of transgender children and to help trans kids struggling with coming out and acceptance, when Melissa was first published in 2015, author Alex Gino (who identifies as genderqueer, aka non-binary) expected it to sell very modestly, primarily within the LGBTQ+ community.
Instead, it became an unexpected bestseller and received praise from the New York Times and National Public Radio, with most other reviews praising it as well. It also won awards, the 2016 Stonewall Book Award, California Book Award, and Lambda Literary Award. It was nominated for four other awards.
Unfortunately, it also brought transphobic bigots out from under their rocks, with some school districts refusing to carry the novel in their libraries. A school district in Oregon considered requiring students to obtain a signed permission slip from a parent or adult guardian in order to borrow the book from their school libraries.
When Melissa was selected as part of the 2018 Oregon Battle of the Books competition for grades 3-5, officials from two school districts withdrew their students from the competition in protest, calling the novel "developmentally inappropriate" for its target audience. The author called them out on their bigotry.
The American Library Association, which hosts the annual Banned Books Week campaign to raise awareness of censorship, listed Melissa as one of the most banned and challenged young adult novels of the past decade, due to its transgender themes.
Fans of the book often asked the author why it was titled George when the title character's true identity was Melissa. Alex Gino agreed that the original title was a mistake, and encouraged readers to cross out George and write Melissa instead. The novel was republished as Melissa - its permanent title - in 2022.
A novel like Melissa is important these days, with the Christian nationalist Trump administration and Republican Party, who have made stripping transgender people of their human rights and dignity part of their political platform, in complete control of the United States government, with a right wing extremist majority rubber stamp Supreme Court to do their bidding.
With the the Supreme Court ruling that states have a right to legally discriminate against trans people if they so choose, many states have passed laws making hormone treatments for underage trans people illegal and prohibiting all trans people from using public bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity.
As with the Jim Crow laws, which had prevented people of color from using the same public bathrooms and other facilities as white people, it was never about bathrooms.
Though the author ruled out a direct sequel to Melissa, she would return as a memorable supporting character in Alex Gino's third novel, Rick (2020), which follows an 11-year-old boy, Melissa's classmate Rick, as he starts middle school. Unlike Melissa, he has no idea who he is and he's questioning everything in his life.
He forms an unexpected bond with his eccentric widower grandfather, Grandpa Ray, and finds a friend in Melissa. They both teach Rick an important lesson: it's okay to be who you are.
Quote Of The Day
"It takes a special person to cry over a book. It shows compassion as well as imagination."
- Alex Gino
Vanguard Video
Today's video features Alex Gino reading from and discussing Melissa (still titled George at the time) as part of a 2018 live appearance at the Bank Street College of Education. Enjoy!
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