These links show the original reading lists. Inclusion is not a guarantee of suitability for your child.
Cynthia So - Author
A relationship-focused coming-of-age story about queer identity, family and friendship. It offers several queer perspectives and a strong fandom element, while allowing characters to hurt one another, argue, forgive and change.
Elsie is openly queer outside her family, presents herself as straight at home and feels pressure to appear like a ‘good Chinese girl’.Exploratory / explanatoryExploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.Exploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.
How the book presents it: The story follows concealment, self-recognition and changing comfort with identity, while also presenting several queer experiences.
Talk about: How does Elsie distinguish privacy, fear, fitting in and being true to herself?
Friendship, romance and accountability
Elsie plans to tell online friend Ada how she feels, while Joan returns and Elsie’s relationship with best friend Ritika becomes strained.MixedMixed: the book presents both supportive and critical signals.Mixed: the book presents both supportive and critical signals.
How the book presents it: The book presents competing or mixed signals about this.
Talk about: If relationships are repaired, what does Elsie do to recognise harm and rebuild trust?
Family, culture and grief
After Elsie’s grandfather dies, her grandmother stays with the family; Elsie barely knows her grandparents, and family members have held things back.Exploratory / explanatoryExploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.Exploratory / explanatory: the book explains or explores the subject without an established evaluative position.
How the book presents it: Family history and cultural expectations provide context for Elsie’s identity and relationships rather than serving only as background.
Talk about: What does Elsie learn about her family, and does that knowledge change how she understands cultural expectations?
✦
Why It May Be Worth Reading
It may suit readers interested in sapphic romance alongside questions about belonging, family expectations and self-presentation. The story gives friendships substantial space rather than treating romance as its only important relationship.
!
What Deserves Attention
Pay attention to how Elsie’s choices affect Ada and Ritika, and to whose queer experiences receive care or remain unexplored. The portrayal of asexual and aromantic identities may merit particular discussion.
↔
A Conversation Worth Having
How does Elsie’s understanding of honesty, boundaries and belonging change? If the book presents different queer identities or family responses, which perspectives feel fully heard and which remain brief?
◇
Reading Approach
Read alongside an open conversation about relationships and representation rather than treating every character’s decision as a model. Pause after conflicts to consider repair, consent, accountability and the limits of others’ perspectives.
Confidence & Basis
Theme indicators describe how the book presents a topic; they are not a verdict on the whole book or your family's values. Confidence reflects how much book-specific material was checked. Only part of the book information was available, so some details remain unconfirmed.
What remains unconfirmed
Queer identity and self-understanding: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Friendship, romance and accountability: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Family, culture and grief: Some details of this treatment remain unclear.
Suitabook