Lily and Dunkin had some incredibly cute moments, and I will never deny that it is important to have more books about transgender youths and adolescents suffering from bipolar disorder available. However, I ultimately felt like this book was just doing too much. There were so many tiny conflicts that no one felt particularly high-stakes. 
 I don't read "middle grade" very frequently (and I will never be able to teach anything younger than 7th grade because of this) because things tend to pan out in a way that is incredibly black and white. I know that it makes sense for this age group, but it makes it hard to find these stories anything more than cute. 
 Additionally, I didn't feel like the two major issues were handled perfectly. Lily's status as a girl is incredibly intertwined with her enjoyment of traditionally feminine activities. I know this is just one book among what will hopefully become many, but in weird ways, that perpetuates the stereotypes about what it means to be a girl. In the notes at the end, Gebhart remarks that many people's bipolar disorder does not manifest in the way that Dunkin's does; by making his version so extreme, young readers may question the key components of it and what it actually entails. 
 Worth the read, but mostly for kids who would have little exposure to this otherwise.