This was such a fantastic graphic novel! Theo does a marvelous job of talking about their journey, making it very accessible to anyone that picks this book up. By the end of reading this I felt like I was wrapped in a warm blanket of love and acceptance.

A YA graphic memoir debut by @theoblue.jpg
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In this graphic novel Theo shares their journey to becoming authentically them. From haircut stories to figuring out that nonbinary is the right term for them, we follow Theo’s life from school to adulthood.
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I was able to read the ARC of this graphic novel and really enjoyed it, but listening to the AMAZINGLY narrated audiobook took the book to another level for me. I highly recommend reading this one in both ways. This was an uplifting and hopeful memoir that I need in my school library asap!

CW: coming out (theme), deadnaming (mentioned), bullying

In Homebody, Theo gracefully guides us through the journey they have been on to be comfortable and confident in their body. Their journey is full of exploration and acceptance and their use of analogies helps readers understand what Theo felt on their journey. Every chapter has inspirational, motivational bits in order to help readers understand what Theo went through and what the reader themself might be going through. Depending on the reader, these inspirational bits might feel cliché. But for the readers who need this book, the inspirational bits will be exactly what they need to encourage them to be themselves. In their acknowledgments, Theo says, "I hope that this book gives you comfort. At the very least, I hope it was a warm hug for you in these uncertain times." Homebody lives up to this hope; it is indeed a comforting, warm hug.

This memoir was very empowering to read. Theo talks about their experiences to figuring out their identity and the journey they went through before they knew it just clicked for them. I love that Theo talks about continued self discovery and this book will be great for many to read; especially those who are still in their own self discovery mode.

This book takes the reader through a journey with Theo as they begin to discover themself and how they want to interact with the world. This memoir is really a perfect read for anyone who wants to understand more about what it is like to be non-binary and the path it can take someone to determine this is how they identify.

A sweet trans memoir about finding home in your body - a must read!

graphic novel | trans nonbinary | biography | young adult

Memoirs about those learning and exploring the gender identities are incredibly reassuring to readers, like myself, and many others. There is something incredibly special about reading and knowing other people are able to find themselves and can share what their journey looks like.

There was a portion discussing hair, and how it's never done quite right. I felt that was something that was ripped out of my own life experiences and felt immense joy when Theo was able to find a solution. Additionally, I loved the view of being comfortable in own skin as "being home" and the depictions of that throughout the story.

Homebody is a lovely graphic novel that follows the the author's journey to self-acceptance after questioning their gender. Theo describes growing up nonbinary but not having the words for it for many years. The author shares experiences with both gender dysphoria and euphoria, bringing us with them as they self-reflect. The depiction of one's true self being represented with a home felt new and real, and every illustration was full of heart. This is a great read that I find myself longing to return to for more self-assurance.

I really enjoyed the journey metaphor with yourself as home that was throughout this memoir. It did a great job of breaking down the assumptions of binary gender that exist within society and showing how the author came to understand themselves in spite of the societal roles placed on them. My library system actually already has this book on order, which I'm very happy about, and look forward to sharing it with patrons. The art and use of color was also beautifully done.

Homebody is a really thoughtful graphic memoir about the author's experiences and journey discovering their non-binary identity and what that might look like for them. If you are looking for more books like Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer, this is a great one to pick up! I really loved the art style, which is a little reminiscent of Heartstopper's, with lots of soft curvy shapes and purple pastel colors.

We follow Parish growing up, starting with their attempts to fit in in elementary and high school, exploring gender through cosplay and RPG, and trying names and pronouns. The book uses a lot of different fruitful metaphors in unpacking ways of thinking about one's identity: the idea of seeing gender as travelling down different paths, more about the journey than the destination; the idea of knighting yourself by choosing a name; and the book's core is about your body being your home, even though it can take trying out different things (haircuts, names, pronouns, clothing) for it to feel that way. I really appreciated the way this book showed that self-discovery is a longer process that involves research, contemplation, trying things out, etc. Coming out is not a band-aid that you rip off once, it is something you do over and over in small ways and there might be things you don't even know about yourself yet!

It felt to me like this was trying to be both a guide and a memoir, and the memoir portions did a lot more for me than the pages that had self-help and self-love style messages on them. I would have preferred to see Theo learn those messages through their experiences, instead of being told directly. Like some other reviewers, I did also notice that the book seems to skim over the topic of binding like it was easy and simple, which gave me pause.

Overall, I think this is a great primer on exploring your gender and identity that is well suited for younger readers, and I think anyone who reads this will get something out of it. I love the attention given to the idea of feeling at home in your body and the journey of self-discovery and -understanding. I hope to read more from Parish in the future!

I know that this is kind of a worn out microgenre (graphic bio about someone's coming out story), but I feel like this one does a pretty phenomenal job at it. What I was really most taken by was the pure clarity of the story -- transitioning (at least to me as a cis man) seems to be an extremely muddied and difficult process that is near-impossible to articulate. Theo does an incredible job here articulating exact feelings that are able to be communicated to someone who has little common experience (like me). The metaphor of gender being a journey between two poles was great -- it's a way I haven't seen it pictured before and made the trans experience more clearly relatable.

I think this title is a valuable resource for all teens, not just those who are curious about transitioning. The format is easily digestible and there is really no nebulous areas where the concepts/feelings are not perfectly clear. The only negative thing is that they skipped over what binding is -- it was just kind of a section where they said they needed privacy, but it didn't really define what binding was. I kinda understand why they would do that, to avoid the book-banner argument that the book has "sexually explicit" material, but I think it is important to at least make brief mention of why people do it, even if it is in a jokey/implicating way rather than anything explicit. 

Yeah, I am pretty sure (for me, at least) this book is list worthy -- I understand where an opposing view would come in, but definitely as the nominations stand right now, I would have no problem including this on the final list.

I think it can't tell if it wants to be a guide or a memoir. I think it's odd that it seems so geared for younger teens, but it doesn't take the time to explain what a binder is or how to use one safely. The concepts are cool and I can appreciate what it's trying to do, but as a trans non-binary person myself this really missed the mark.

Homebody by Theo Parish is a wonderful exploration of gender, sense of self, and what it means to love and accept yourself in a world that not designed for you. I found the metaphor of a trip through the woods to be such a relatable and accessible way of describing the journey towards self understanding and acceptance.

It's a great art style and I liked the people as houses theme too. You have to live inside your body, so if we change and decorate our homes as we better settle into them why should people not be free to adapt their bodies to make them the most comfortable too.

I recommend this graphic novel to any young person who is on a journey of self discovery or is trying to better understand their gender and the way it could change through their lives as they better get to know themselves.

This book is wonderful!
This information is presented in such an approachable and easy to understand format. The artwork and colors are just great. I'm eager to add this one to my collection.

Theo Paris's graphic memoir shows that not every trans person knows exactly who they are from the start; each person has to work out the many layers of themselves. Theo talks about knowing they were a boy, but being treated as a girl. Thankfully, Theo had a very supportive family, but culture and peer pressure made them feel like they had to stick to classic gender norms to fit in. Figuring out who you want to be is a universal struggle that any reader can understand.

This was an adorable graphic memoir hybrid full of sweet moments, beautiful illustrations, and poetic observations about living an authentic life. I love how the author walks us through their journey from childhood to adulthood in a way that is accessible to all types of readers.

Parish explains their thoughts and emotions throughout their experiences openly, and the importance of a supportive web of friends and family is highlighted.

In the same vein as Genderqueer by Maia Kobabe, Homebody is a memoir about queerness, growing up, and taking up space. It was both a memoir and an informative look into the non-binary experience, blending prose and non-fiction and art into a cohesive graphic novel about Theo’s life and their journey from childhood to adulthood as a queer person. It was very easily read and appropriate for younger audiences who might not be ready for Genderqueer.

Thank you Netgalley and Harper Collins for this ARC. This books was a beautiful story of self discovery. As a mother this is a great book for kids especially if they have questions about their own identity. This book is like a friend holding your hand and saying it's ok to have questions and then guiding them on a path to find answers. This was a five star read for me and I will always recommend this book!

"Transition is a journey of coming home to myself," writes Theo, using the common motif of journeys and wanderings to explain transition. But in a unique twist, self actualized queers are depicted with houses as torsos, to show how they have found home within themselves.

Theo's personal journey is rendered quite beautifully, the standard comic panels often broken up by sequences of splash pages to really depict the internal struggles and feelings as you transition and find yourself and the language to express yourself. Of accepting yourself and realizing you're not the only one who feels like this.

This book seems accessible to trans and cisgender readers alike, as Theo reassures readers they're not alone if they're on a similar journey while rendering their own in a way that anyone with an open mind can easily understand. I related to the struggles of being hemmed into the girl box or worse, the feminine girl box, and the unexpected joy of cutting your own hair, even as I never encountered Theo's issues with stylists that couldn't follow a hair cut request. And yes, I did have the experience of feeling a frission of joy myself when I saw a cashier in my area with they/them pin, much like how Theo hopes they'll inspire others with that simple act of being and loving themselves.

Being transgender is a radical act of self love, Theo states. And the more they accepted and loved themselves, the closer Theo felt to the people in their life.

I want to thank Harper Collins for the ARC so I could read something new for the Trans Rights Readathon this year before Trans Day of Visibility. I strongly urge anyone reading this to similarly pick up a trans book!.

This book does more outright telling than showing than I'd prefer in a memoir about their experiences, although I appreciate that this may be many people's first introduction to the concept of being nonbinary and therefore needing to flat-out tell them why certain things are important and meaningful. This feels best suited for a teenage audience, and I think readers who are curious about being nonbinary will learn a lot.