I Am Water

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Pub Date 01 Oct 2019 | Archive Date 01 Nov 2019

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Description

Hi-Lo. Hannah works as the only female river-rafting guide in her close-minded small town. Labeled as a tomboy, she often struggles to reconcile the way she fits into normal gender stereotypes. Hannah meets Ezra, who blurs the lines between woman and man. They begin an exciting new relationship, but soon Ezra starts pushing Hannah's limits and her definition of love.

Hi-Lo. Hannah works as the only female river-rafting guide in her close-minded small town. Labeled as a tomboy, she often struggles to reconcile the way she fits into normal gender stereotypes...


Available Editions

EDITION Ebook
ISBN 9781538383407
PRICE $19.95 (USD)

Average rating from 12 members


Featured Reviews

This book starts by seeming like it will be about first love and it is but it is about discovering oneself most of all and I loved that it was focused on Hannah and not on who Hannah was dating.

Meg excels at telling a story that tells people, and girls, in particular, that no matter how cool and amazing her boyfriends (or other significant other) might be they should always make sure that they are doing what they want to do, not what the person they are dating is trying to get them to do or to let them do to someone else.

I think that this is the perfect read for younger teenagers to be introduced to being genderfluid because it explains it really well in a really innocent way.

Homophobia, discrimination, and sexism also feature prominently and I loved to see how the author dealt with those themes in a simple and easy to understand way.

The supporting characters were also amazing and Hannah’s brother and her best friend Sam really clawed their way into my heart. Most of all though I loved to see Hannah grow.

Thank you to West 44 and NetGalley for this DRC.

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This was written so beautifully and had such amazing lines. I loved Hannah's relationship with her brother and Hannah herself. I almost wish this wasn't written in verse so we could have gotten some more from the story - background, setting, relationships, etc. Especially Hannah exploring her gender identity - after she first thinks she may be gender fluid, the plot line is pretty much completely dropped and instead focuses on her and Ezra's relationship. Overall, I really liked this!

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it's been years since i got to read a novel written in verse again. needless to say, i wasn't expecting it. i wish we had been made known it was written in verse, but it's alright. though i believe the story would have been fleshed out better and the characters established more solidly had it been told as a narrative.

i am water tells us the story of hannah, an eighteen-year-old who works as a female river-rafting guide. she lives in a small town where people pretty much stick to their guns until ezra comes into the picture. ezra is a colorful, wanderlust of a soul who presents himself as every bit unusual to the people in hannah's town and she is enamored by him. with ezra, hannah's eyes are opened to a part of herself she hadn't fully realized until then. here, she ultimately learns about her identity.

i liked knowing about hannah and reading about her metaphors with water and fire and earth and wind. and to be fair, if i were hannah and i found out ezra was a capricorn sun with a lot of sagittarius placements (and sends you horoscope they wrote through your locker? ma'am...), i'd have scampered as quick as i could towards the opposite direction the minute i laid my eyes on him.

anyway, i am water was written in a way that plunges you right into hannah's mind and it's produced a lot of good, beautiful lines. i particularly liked the one about women being bodies of water and men getting safe passage across bodies of water by learning to respect rivers.

this book is a pretty bittersweet read. i'd recommend this to readers who like prose and simple, short reads.

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I guess if you have visited my blog before you know that I love the idea of the Hi-Lo books and that they encourage people to read who perhaps aren't as good at it as others. My understanding of Hi Lo books are they have high interest plot , yet use less complicated wording.

In this book the main themes are gender stereotypes, and coming of age. Hannah is the main character who has always been labelled as a "tomboy". Hannah is the only female river rafting guide, so she is used to taking the tours and having male tourists try to take over, thinking they know more than a young female who in their opinion doesn't know what she is doing. Hannah is friends with Sam who people also think of as an "oddball" or more of a "loner" "outsider". Sam likes watching fire and always has a lighter with him. In fact, he has a habit of flicking the lighter on and off. Hannah and Sam have their routine of going for a milkshake every Friday. They take it in turns to choose the milkshake flavour, then they go down by the water and light a fire and sit round it talking, it is kind of like their ritual.
Their routine, rituals and relationship end up being disturbed when a new boy turns up at school. The new boy is Ezra, who dresses differently, he doesn't easily fit into a female or male stereotype. Ezra refuses to conform to wearing what people consider male clothing, he wears floaty scarves and wears make up and glitter to adorn himself.

I was quite surprised that a book listed as children's fiction, would cover such a difficult, some would say controversial subject. Though on the other hand the book deals with the subject of gender fluidity which seems to be covered in the news and in TV programmes more and more too. I think the book handles the subject very well and it made an interesting and informative read.
I loved the reference of purple being a mixture of pink and blue so making it the perfect colour to represent gender fluidity. I think this book would be a great conversation starter for teens or anyone who feels they are gender fluid.

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Well, I wasn't expecting the book to be written in verse, and I think it took my brain a little while to get over the shock of that. Would have been easier to read if I was expecting it from the description. (unless my Kindle was acting up and it's actually supposed to be in prose? Either way, a heads up would be good).

That aside, I think that this is a beautifully written, easily accessible book. I'd definitely recommend for younger teens who have difficulty engaging with standard novels. Hannah is a great character and I love her voice throughout. The plot is easy to follow, but still engaging. Overall, a great Hi Lo book because it manages to get that perfect balance of accessibility and good, age-appropriate themes and story that is hard to achieve.

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I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.


So, I want to start this review with transparency, I do not like books written in verse. I really wish it had been clearly stated that this book was one written in verse. With that being said, it was a good book.


The theme of the book is all about finding yourself and about first loves. I particularly loved the growth of the main character, Hannah. Her growth felt very pure and realistic. I loved the general “self love” theme.


I think the author tackled some very hard to touch topics like homophobia, sexisim and discrimination in a very easy to understand way.


Despite my aversion to books written in verse, I did really enjoy this book and I want to thank the publisher, author, and NetGalley for allowing me to review this title.

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The writing style isn't my favorite, but it was interesting. It was in poetic verse, which I don't read very often. However, the plot was beautiful and it deals with the importance of recognizing gender-fluid people, which I'm all for. If you like that style of writing, then this book is for you!

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This was written so beautifully and had such amazing lines. I loved Hannah's relationship with her brother and Hannah herself. I almost wish this wasn't written in verse so we could have gotten some more from the story - background, setting, relationships, etc. Especially Hannah exploring her gender identity - after she first thinks she may be gender fluid, the plot line is pretty much completely dropped and instead focuses on her and Ezra's relationship. Overall, I really liked this!

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