Dreadnought: Britain,Germany and the Coming of the Great War

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The character dynamics - particularly between Danny and Calamity - shine throughout. Reading this the weekend of the Women's March made me feel quite emotional. This message of female solidarity is so important; and add to it a much-needed, complex, trans superheroine and you have one hell of a powerful book. I can't wait for more. What a wonderful way to spend a day! Danny was such a lovingly-drawn character that I found it impossible not to fall in love with her myself. While the book was a bit bleak in places, and Danny certainly needed her super-strength to carry some of the burdens she was handed, this was still an empowering story that ended on a high note. However. There was SO much transphobia and so much abusive language towards transpeople in the course of this book. Danny's father has been verbally abusive throughout the course of Danny's life, but once she takes on the mantle of Dreadnought and presents as female, the abuse only gets worse. Danny's best friend is initially thrilled but only because Danny is now a new girl for him to hit on. When Danny's all "Um. No?", said best friend starts throwing slurs and abuse around left and right. Dreadnought is wonderful YA superhero novel about a 15 year old transgender girl Danny who gets super powers after an accident and the adventures begin.

Dreadnought is the kind of book I would love to talk more about. It’s by no means a perfect book, but it’s an important one, especially in our time of day. The main character is transgender and queer, who just happens to stumble upon a crazy set of superpowers, and it’s the coolest thing in the world. Except for when she turns into a physical girl, the girl she always wanted to be – the girl she’s always been in her mind – and then that is the coolest thing in the world. I’m not quite sure which is cooler, but thankfully both things happened in the book so I don’t have to choose. When you're a kid, who do you look up to ? A superhero. You need to find yourself in a superhero, you need to think 'That could be me.' Kids need a transgender superhero. Is there a name for the situation where you keep thinking you like a certain genre, but you’re almost unfailingly critical of every book in that genre you read? That’s me and the superhero novel. I want to like superhero novels, desperately. Superheroes fascinate me. But most superhero novels I’ve read don’t quite capture whatever ineffable quality of superheroics that I’m looking for. (To be fair, I also don’t read superhero comics or watch much superhero television/movies, Supergirl aside, so maybe I’m just delusional.) So I end up reading superhero novels and then feeling let down, and it’s not entirely the fault of those books. What I loved about this read was the pure fun of the story. I really feel like the balance here is great between a superb story about teens dealing with magic powers and puberty, but then we also have an excellent trans and lesbian storyline which is given just as much attention and credit as the other. I really like that it didn't lean too heavily one way or another becuase it made the story feel so much more fluid and exciting to learn not only about the 'magical' elements, but also about the deeper personal issues and problems Danny faced.

Hey! None of that!” She takes me by the shoulders. “You think it’s a uterus that makes a woman? Bullshit. You feel like you’re a girl, you live it, it’s part of you? Then you’re a girl. That’s the end of it, no quibbling. You’re as real a girl as anyone. An you really need to learn to express your anger better.” I should preface this by saying dysphoria is real, and however a person chooses to handle it - whether transitioning or not - is a deeply personal choice that no one else has any right to be involved in. And I believe this to be true too re: children as long as they have the capacity to make medical decisions. Danny's dynamics with Doc Impossible and Calamity stand out as well. Calamity is fairly compelling all on her own. The relationship building between her and Danny is great. I’m rooting for them to get together officially in book two, and a scene towards the end of the book gave me some serious hope.

They were all cis - that is to say, they weren't trans - so their bodies didn't change to match their gender identities because they were already matching." (51) Ah... if you only knew if my teen self who would do anything to have an 'unmarked' body, no hips, no breasts etc. Doesn't make me trans, doesn't make any of the people who suffer from dysphoria necessarily trans. The reduction of dysphoria to something only trans people feel speaks to the fundamental misunderstanding of what gender is/does from point 1. It also is such a gloss of the realities encountered by female people... the prevalence of EDs/body hatred among us and the social causes of that.However, I was deeply uncomfortable with this book. The plot is thin, the characters are flat, but those aren't my major concerns. It's the way that gender, sex & transition is handled.