First Spring Grass Fire

the long version

"This first book by Rae Spoon [who uses "they" as a pronoun], a transgender indie singer-songwriter, is a candid, powerful story about a young person growing up queer in a strict Pentecostal family in Alberta. The narrator attends church events and Billy Graham rallies faithfully with their family before discovering the music that becomes their salvation and means of escape. As their father's schizophrenia causes their parents' marriage to unravel, the narrator finds solace and safety in the company of their siblings, in their nascent feelings for a girl at school, and in their growing awareness that they are not the person their parents think they are. With a heart as big as the prairie sky, this is a quietly devastating, heart-wrenching coming-of-age book about escaping dogma, surviving abuse, finding love, and risking everything for acceptance."--Cover.