Freeing Finch

Ages 10 to 14

From the author of Hurt Go Happy, winner of ALA’s Schneider Family Book Award, comes the inspiring and insightful story of a transgender girl and an abandoned dog who overcome adversity to find a home, love, and a sense of belonging.

When her father leaves and her mother passes away soon afterward, Finch can’t help feeling abandoned.

Now she’s stuck living with her stepfather and his new wife. They’re mostly nice, but they don’t believe the one true thing Finch knows about herself: that she’s a girl, even though she was born in a boy’s body.

Thankfully, she has Maddy, a neighbor and animal rescuer who accepts her for who she is. Finch helps Maddy care for a menagerie of lost and lonely creatures, including a scared, stray dog who needs a family and home as much as she does.

As she earns the dog’s trust, Finch realizes she must also learn to trust the people in her life—even if they are the last people she expected to love her and help her to be true to herself.