A son of Chinese immigrants discovers his true self in a “sharply written debut . . . a coming-of-age tale for our time” (Seattle Times). Publishing Triangle’s Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, Winner 2015 PEN/ Hemingway Award, Finalist Lambda Literary Award, Finalist Longlisted for the 2014 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize A Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection for Spring 2014 A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Shortlisted for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize At birth, Peter Huang is given the Chinese name Juan Chaun, “powerful king.” To his parents, newly settled in small-town Ontario, he is the exalted only son in a sea of daughters, the one who will finally fulfill his immigrant father’s dreams of Western masculinity. Peter and his sisters grow up in an airless house of order and obligation, though secrets and half-truths simmer beneath the surface. At the first opportunity, each of the girls lights out on her own. But for Peter, escape is not as simple as fleeing his parents’ home. Though his father crowned him “powerful king,” Peter knows otherwise. He knows he is really a girl. With the help of his far-flung sisters and the sympathetic souls he finds along the way, Peter inches ever closer to his own life, his own skin, in this darkly funny, emotionally acute, stunningly powerful debut. “Sensitively wrought . . . “For Today I Am a Boy” is as much about the construction of self as the consequences of its unwitting destruction—and what happens when its acceptance seems as foreign as another country.” —The New York Times Book Review “Subtle and controlled, with flashes of humor and warmth.” —Slate “Keeps you reading. Told in snatches of memory that hurt so much they have the ring of truth.” —Bust

The author's concepts of what boys and girls are: "Boys are handsome. Girls are beautiful. Boys are doctors. Girls are nurses. Boys are pilots. Girls are stewardesses."

The children depicted in the book represent all different ethnic backgrounds, engaging in the joy of childhood. It is a more accurate reflection of what we see in our homes and communities-amazing boys of color that will become phenomenal men.

This story, told in poetic verse, follows a transgender child who is born female bodied. He knows he is a boy and says so from the very first moment of his life. His parents don't understand at first and assume he is just confused. But when he expresses himself clearly they learn to accept him for who he is and love him all the same. "I Am A Boy!!" demonstrates how parents can support their transgender children. It also illuminates what happens to children when they are transgender and guides the reader through how peers of LGBTQ children might react, at first, until they understand who their friend really is.

Version 2

"Can I now, a white-haired man who gets into the movies at reduced cost, do I have any magic words left? Can I get a miracle? If I can recall my youth and understand it, that may be the miracle I seek now." When David Hays was 66 and had joined a synagogue for the first time in over fifty years, he decided to study Hebrew and be a bar mitzvah. And so this world-renowned theatrical designer, founder of the legendary National Theatre of the Deaf, father of two grown children and coauthor of the bestselling "My Old Man and the Sea," borrowed his grandson's beginner's Hebrew workbook and joined a class of twelve-year-olds. It launched a wondrous journey of faith and community. In "Today I Am a Boy," Hays's new world begins to intersect with his own history: on Yom Kippur, Hays, who has sailed around Cape Horn with his son, reads the story of Jonah to the congregation and gives a sermon on the Old Testament and the sea. His long-dormant love of learning is wholly rekindled. At the stage of life when most of us begin to slow down, Hays feels more alive than ever, rejuvenated by newfound connections to his youth and faith. "Today I Am a Boy" is a brave, clear-eyed and joyous examination of life.