Finding My Spark

When puberty hits, Alex begins to realize he's been misgendered as a girl his whole life.

First, he stops wearing dresses and paints his room a dark color. Then he cuts his hair short. But people still aren't seeing the real him. His mom has always called him her "little star," but he doesn't feel like shining. Instead, he feels like hiding away.

Alex knows he should tell people who he really is, but he can't seem to get the words out. Will his parents be mad? Will his friends still like him? He decides to write a letter to his mom telling her the truth. Slowly but surely, he starts telling others--first the rest of his family, then his class. The big explosion he worried about never comes, just love and support. He's still his mom's little star, and he can finally be himself and shine.

Isabelle Jameson has been a children's librarian for over twenty years and is the mother of four children. She has a passion for promoting and animating children's books. Nothing makes her happier than putting the right book in the hands of the right reader, whether it's a six-month-old baby or a fourteen-year-old teenager, a new reader or a bookworm.

Sylvain Cabot was born in Lyon, France, where he first trained as a hairdresser. He later became a bookseller, mainly so he could touch all the books without getting scolded. These days, he focuses primarily on illustration and comics. He has illustrated several children's books published by Éditions Milan, La courte échelle and Bayard Canada. He lives, draws and drinks coffee in Montreal.

Ann Marie Boulanger is a certified translator and owner of Traduction Proteus Inc. When she's not translating commercial texts, she's an accomplished translator of adult and children's literature. Her translation of The Woman in Valencia, by Annie Perreault, was named a World Literature Today Notable Translation of 2021. She's also a part-time lecturer at McGill University and co-founder of LION Translation Academy, which offers business, tech and language training workshops for translators.