Gracefully Grayson is a 2014 middle grade novel by Ami Polonsky.
Grayson Sender is a friendless sixth grader who is secretly a trans girl. She hasn't told anyone about her gender in years, but when she learns that her English teacher Mr. Finnegan is directing a production of The Myth of Persephone, she decides to try out for the lead role. Grayson finds a new friend group in the play's cast, but faces opposition from school bullies and her own family.
Gracefully Grayson contains examples of:
- Big Brother Bully: After Grayson is cast as Persephone, her cousin Jack constantly makes fun of her for supposedly being gay. It doesn't help that Jack's best friend is Tyler, the older brother of the class bully Ryan. Grayson learns that when she first came to live with the family, Jack teased her for dressing like a girl until she stopped.
- Eating Lunch Alone: Grayson has eaten lunch in the library ever since third grade, when her best friend Emma moved to Florida.
- Homophobic Hate Crime: The day of the show, Ryan and Tyler chase Grayson down and push her down a flight of stairs, fracturing her wrist.
- I Have This Friend: Grayson buys girls' T-shirts from a thrift store. She tells the cashier it's for her sister's birthday.
- Nephewism: Grayson's parents were killed in a car crash when she was four. She lives with Uncle Evan, Aunt Sally, and her cousins Jack and Brett. Grayson remembers very little about her parents and often wonders what her life would be like if they were still alive. After Grandma Alice dies, Grayson receives some letters written by her mother. She learns that her parents knew she was trans and accepted her, but Evan and Sally essentially forced her into the closet.
- New Transfer Student: When Amelia moves from Boston to Chicago with her mother, she becomes the first friend Grayson's had in years.
- The Show Must Go On: Grayson doesn't let a fractured wrist deter her from playing Persephone.
- Tragic Keepsake: Grayson's mother was an artist. She left her a painting of a red, blue, and yellow bird flying above the earth. Grayson learns that the painting is of the phoenix, a creature Grayson was fascinated by when she was little.
- Trans Tribulations: The story is about Grayson, a trans girl, who wishes to play Persephone in the school play despite the prejudice she faces.
- "Which Restroom?" Dilemma: As Grayson becomes more openly feminine, she considers going into the girls' room on several occasions. But since no one yet knows she's trans, she always uses the boys' room instead.
