High schooler Jip has a big problem—an art class assignment to draw a self-portrait. That shouldn’t be a problem, as Jip is a talented artist who can draw bugs, shells, and other items in exquisite detail. Jip is also obsessed with biology in general and insects in particular, spending days (and nights) in an overgrown lot where a housing project once stood, observing the flora and fauna and thinking about a special friend who moved away and a crush who recently moved into town. Jip’s was so close to his old friend Oever that when Oever failed a grade in primary school, Jip also failed that grade (despite being a top student) to be with him. But Oever moved away two years ago after experiencing an act of violence at the hands of bullies. Now Jip is obsessed with a new kid but just as terrified of the consequences of revealing who they are to another person as revealing who they are in the self-portrait—nonbinary, and coming to realize they are a trans boy.
Volbeda’s novel, written in the form of a dreamlike prose poem, explores a teenager’s grappling with both gender identity and sexual orientation. People see Jip as a girl attracted to boys, but for Jip, the relationship with Oever was more than that. When Jip met Oever on his cousin’s family’s boat, he thought: “I didn’t know if I wanted to get to know him or if I wanted to be him. I only knew for sure that I wanted to stay by his side, for the rest of my life, to figure that out.” Yet Jip’s society will not allow him to stay by Oever’s side forever, even though it seems Oever wants that too. And Jip is not sure the new boy will turn out to be like Oever, or like the rest of them. Scott’s lyrical translation, which includes wordplay and Jip’s rhymed poetry, captures Jip’s fear and longing and their intimate connection to the nonbinary natural world.
Self-Portrait
Written by Ludwig Volbeda
Translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott
Levine Querido, 2025
ISBN 978-1-64614577-5
Reviews:
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
The Southern Bookseller Review
Awards:
Rainbow Book of the Year
You can buy a copy of Self-Portrait here or borrow it from a library here. Book purchases made via our affiliate link may earn GLLI a small commission.Lyn Miller-Lachmann is the author of the YA historical novel Torch (Carolrhoda Lab, 2022), winner of the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature and a 2022 Booklist Editors’ Choice, and the YA verse novel Eyes Open (Carolrhoda Lab 2024), chosen by Booklist as a Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth, 2024. She wrote the picture book Ways to Play (Levine Querido, 2023), illustrated by Gabriel Alborozo, and co-authored with Zetta Elliott the middle grade verse novel Moonwalking (FSG, 2022). Her nonfiction includes a biography of Temple Grandin in the She Persisted chapter book series from Philomel and Film Makers: 15 Groundbreaking Women Directors (co-authored with Tanisia “Tee” Moore) from Chicago Review Press. She translates books for youth from Portuguese to English, including the 2023 YA graphic novel Pardalita by Joana Estrela, published by Levine Querido, which was named a Batchelder Honor Book in 2024 and the graphic novel Our Beautiful Darkness (Enchanted Lion), by the Angolan author Ondjaki, illustrated by António Jorge Gonçalves.
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