If I Was Your Girl Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Uncovering YA Novels with Transgender Characters and our BookBrowse Review of If I Was Your Girl.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. When Grant first introduces himself to Amanda, she wonders "if a boy like him could ever understand what it was like to be me. To know what it was like to view high school as something you needed to survive." Do you think every high schooler feels that way at some point? Does the book ultimately agree with Amanda or not?
2. There are many ways to describe Amanda—she's young, Southern, transgender. Despite these specific facts, in what ways is her story universal?
3. When young Amanda gives her dad the story she wrote in class, he tells her, "Son, I want you to have a good life. Boys who really think the things in your story are confused. They don't have good lives. So you're not one of those boys." It becomes clear that Amanda's father was always worried about her safety, even as he tried to hide who she really was. Was he always wrong to do so? Do you think his actions are justified in some way?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Flatiron Books. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.