Becoming Nicole by Amy Ellis Nutt

Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family came out in 2015 and it’s a must read for today. This will be a short review as I want the book itself to show readers one middle class family’s story. The book chronicles the changes in the family’s life beginning when one of their identical twin toddler boys begins insisting that he’s a girl. Pulitzer Prize winning health and science journalist and author Amy Ellis Nutt transforms their saga into a page turner that educates as it captures the reader emotionally. Nutt exquisitely narrates the love and acceptance that the family shares as she reveals their poignant story with journalistic integrity.

Today as transgender individuals are being thrust into the news, many people either don’t know a transgender person or aren’t aware if they do know one. Reading a book that’s as well researched and beautifully written as this one should help people who want to be informed.

I hope this quote from the book will be enough to make you read Becoming Nicole: When an endocrinologist asks his transgender patient to teach him, the patient says, “Sexual orientation is who you go to bed with . . . Gender identity is who you go to bed as.”

Summing it Up: Read Becoming Nicole to educate yourself on a hot button topic and to understand why it’s important to respect individuals as people not just as an issue to discuss. Combining biology, research, and compelling stories, this is a brilliant work of nonfiction.

Rating: 5 stars   

Category: Five Stars, Gourmet, Grandma’s Pot Roast, Nonfiction, Super Nutrition, Book Club

Publication date: October 20, 2015

Author Website: http://amyellisnutt.com/

Author Interview:  http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/10/19/449937765/becoming-nicole-recounts-one-familys-acceptance-of-their-transgender-child 

What Others are Saying:

Kirkus Reviews: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/amy-ellis-nutt/becoming-nicole/

New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/books/review/becoming-nicole-by-amy-ellis-nutt.html?_r=0

Publishers Weekly: https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8129-9541-1