• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4 to 7

A heartwarming story about Jude, a nonbinary kid who knows exactly who they are and decides to create a safe space in their community.

Twelve-year-old Jude struggles with some things: focusing at school, feeling like everything rests on their shoulders, not being able to come out as nonbinary to their old-fashioned grandparents. But Jude doesn't struggle with Dallas, their best friend in the whole world. Their person.

Jude and Dallas’s world changes when they learn Stevie, a girl in their class, has been ousted from the popular clique at school. Worried it had something to do with Stevie's rumoured crush on another girl, Jude reaches out to see if Stevie is okay. Stevie quickly becomes an important friend to Jude and Dallas, whose unwavering acceptance of her is a stark contrast to the tests and dysfunction she experienced with her former friend group.

As their friendship deepens and the three open up to each other, Stevie's unconditional and open acceptance when Jude comes out to her motivates them to create a queer safe space in their community. Jude has the courage and determination it takes to create the first Diversity Club in their community, but will they be able to find the support they need to make it happen?

RONNIE RILEY is a queer, nonbinary, trans femme writer based in Toronto, Ontario, who uses they/them pronouns. They created LGBTNPit, an annual Twitter pitch event for queer, trans, and nonbinary authors using the hashtag #lgbtnpit. They are a Special Event Manager who graduated with honours from George Brown College. It comes in handy for writing since they meet so many interesting real-life characters. Writing, watching TV, and reading books are some of Ronnie’s favourite hobbies. They love digging themselves into a new world and forgetting reality for a while. Ronnie enjoys crafting of all sorts, particularly loom-knitting warm hats, sewing cat toys and lavender heating pads, and cross stitching. They love fiddling around with graphic design, websites, and creating resources for educational purposes. Visit them at https://www.mxronnieriley.com/.

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