Rants

Book Report Essay

Name: Mars Date: II/XVI~XVIII/MMXXII

Cemetery Boys
Book Report/Essay

Cemetery Boys is a powerful book that shows the representation of the Latinx and LGBTQ+ communities. The story follows a trans boy who's been set as an outcast because they don't believe he can be a brujo because "he's not a real boy." But gender isn't always your physical attributes, it's a state of mind.

Yadriel's family couldn't see this, they refused him the opportunity to try, causing him to perform the quinces ceremony on his own with the help of his cousin. That's why Lady Death had gifted him with the magic of a brujo, because she looked passed the physical build of a girl and saw the mind of a true brujo.

My mom once tried to convince me that trans people shouldn't be allowed to participate in professional sports because a guy on a girls' team would have an advantage while a girl on a guy's team would be at a disadvantage. Yes, they would still have the generic make-up of the gender they were born with, but I think it's different if the person is taking hormones or whatever. I guess there's some logic in that, but I don't think she realized how rude that might sound to the affected party. Just like what his people did to Yadriel, my mom is setting trans people as outcasts who shouldn't play in sports where gender would affect it. You can't say something like that and then procced to say that you support trans rights. Because that just defeats the purpose when you don't want them in professional sports.

Despite the very strong emotions this book made me feel, I was able to calm down with the fact that representation like this wouldn't be possible if this story was published a hundred years ago. Not only people would be flabbergasted with even the thought of a book about a trans gay boy, but they'd faint at the near thought of it being about a different culture. We did this. This progress we have made has accumulated over the years and we've reached the point where books like this can be published with infinite support.

The story itself is an inspiration to kids like me, I didn't get the representation I needed while growing up, but this book changed that. It also pleased the side of me that's obsessed with fantasy. But the mystery and suspense that filled this book kept me on the edge of my seat. The heartbreaking end made me glad I wasn't reading in school as I bawled my eyes out. But the biggest thing I love most about this book is that it exists. That someone had the courage to write about their culture and share to the world that kids struggle every day, and someone needs to fix that.

Every character in this book has their own life, their own problems, and their own story. They are what brings this book to life. The words that fly off the page and take me to the world that they live in. I know that this is all fiction, but within the story was the hard truths of the world. Parents abandoning their kids, parents neglecting their kids, and parents not accepting them. But this story has highlighted the fact that people can change.

This book may have brough tears to my eyes, but the saddest part wasn't the one that made me cry, but the one that made me angry. Where people would neglect Yadriel's pronouns. Where they would accidentally or purposely call him by his deadname. Where they would use phrases like "You're still my little girl" or "Stay here with the rest of the women" or "You're still *deadname* to me." Phrases like these are meant to degrade us. Even if you don't mean to, you are tearing us down, taking away whatever hope we have given ourselves. But worst of all, where they were not letting him at least try to prove himself, not letting him participate just because you think it won't work, just because you think that he isn't a boy just because he said so, but just because you think something, doesn't make it a fact.

We are all valid, we don't give ourselves new names just for the fun of it, we do it because it is who we are. The names are what we stand for. We may not have all the support in the world, but it's the small gestures that show who is there for us whenever life brings us down. As someone who lives under the trans umbrella, I can truthfully say that whenever I hear people use the name that I gave myself, it makes my day just a little better.