The World Divided by Piper

Gr 4-7–A sensitive, comprehensive look at growing up. Piper Franklin entered puberty when she was six years old. Hormone treatment slowed down the process, but now that she’s 11, her mom and doctor want to discontinue it. Gifted Piper, seeing how hormones affect people and how women are treated differently than men, is determined to avoid puberty. Besides body development and gender disparity, a lot of topics are addressed in this story, such as family dynamics, race, LGBTQIA+ identity, and neurodivergence. Piper’s first-person voice, complete with self-censorship to “be nice,” according to her mom, is straightforward and believable as she struggles to understand. The dialogue among characters discussing sensitive issues is realistic and allows readers to see how they could handle similar conversations in their own lives. All readers might not relate to Piper’s academic gifts or medical history, but everyone can relate to the embarrassing agony of a changing body. In the wrong storyteller’s hands, Piper’s narrative could have been a convoluted, didactic mess; but Carter deftly creates a world that is both unique and universal and, perhaps most importantly, applicable to young readers.