SELF PORTRAIT

Dutch author Ludwig Volbeda's 2024 Rainbow Book of the Year is translated by Lucy Scott. Avi Roque's neutral narration fits the unsent letters of Jip, who is struggling during a school break to draw a self-portrait and to determine their place in the world. Roque creates a verbal portrait of the solitary, artistic, bug-curious teen whose observations are sometimes painful in social settings but fanciful in the natural world. Addressing an unnamed classmate, Jip questions life, family, and identity. Meandering fragments suggest their grandmother's failing mind, their parents' troubled marriage, and their own search for identity. A struggling transgender youth makes a decision that culminates in an affirming self-portrait. S.W. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2025]