Wandering Son Book 5

Reading level - 13 to 16 years.

In volume 5 of the acclaimed series about transgendered kids exploring their unfolding identities, we've reached a big event; the junior high school entrance ceremony. The boys wear black uniforms with stand-up collars based on mid-19th century European military uniforms and the girls wear navy blazers, tan skirts, and red ribbon neckties.

Enter our heroes; Nitori-kun is forced to wear a boy's uniform while Takatsuki-san has to wear a girl's! Yet one girl ”Sarashia Chizuru" draws stares, whispers, and pointed fingers, because this long-haired beauty is wearing a boy's uniform. Both Nitori-kun and Takatsuki-san are awed by the girl's courage, but Takatsuki-san is particularly vexed by their own faintheartedness.

They envy more than a few other students who experience such liberty in wearing either uniform and ponder what it ultimately means about themselves. Envy and jealousy are prominent themes in Volume 5: Chiba-san is jealous of Takatsuki-san, for whom Nitori-kun still carries a tortch.

Maho envies Anna-chan's professionalism as a model. And Chii-chan's loyal sidekick, Shiri Momoko, is intensely jealous of anyone in whom Chii-chan shows the slightest interest.

And so our protagonists set off on the journey to adolescence.

"Wandering Son is a delightful, quiet manga about a girly boy and a boyish girl.... This is not your typical gender-bender manga playing a gender switch for laughs (and fanservice); it's a quiet, subtle story of a boy coming to terms with himself."
Brigid Alverson

"Shimura balances a full plate in this story, all the while offering it with the kind of easy grace that makes the balance appear to be almost magical.... In Shimura s sympathetic hands, this manga is neither gag nor message heavy: both main characters, their peers, and their family members are credible and developed with enough depth that readers can think about them beyond the bounds of the book. ...[Wandering Son Vol. 1] belongs in every high school library, as well as in public collections that are accessible to both youth and adults."
Francisca Goldsmith"

"...Shimura Takako is a master at portraying subtle events in a slice of life story about adolescence that never feels didactic.... Like the storyline, Shimura s art is simple but nuanced.... As you d expect from Fantagraphics, the production quality for Wandering Son is excellent."
Anna Neatrour"

"What makes Wandering Son work is its slow-burn pace and calm atmosphere. It takes a delicate subject transgender children- and explores it slowly and carefully. Much like its characters, it moves at its own pace, easing the reader into the characters lives."
Shannon Fay