The Bold World

October 1, 2018
Patterson leaves no emotional stone unturned in her powerful chronicle of her experiences being the mother of a transgender child. Patterson, an activist and former magazine ad executive who grew up in 1970s New York City, was already mother to a daughter, Georgia, and a son, Cassius, when Penelope was born in 2009. Almost from the start, Penelope was constantly angry, and then, as a three-year-old, told Patterson, “Mama, I’m not a girl. I’m a boy.” While Penelope’s mother, father, and siblings—a brood that grew to include two additional brothers—accepted him without question, neither Patterson nor Penelope were exempted from thoughtlessness and intolerance of others. “The story of trans people, to me, was shaping up to be very similar to the story of Black people,” Patterson observes. “Stories in which some have tried to rewrite people’s identities to serve their own needs.” A pleasant surprise came when they explained to Penelope’s religious Ghanaian grandfather, to refer to Penelope as “he”: “Ayy! It’s no problem at all! In my language of Twi, Jodie, we don’t use gender pronouns,” he replied. Patterson’s raw tour de force illustrates the strength of a loving and determined mother.

November 15, 2018
In her poignant debut memoir, entrepreneur and social activist Patterson unfolds her familial lineage of women who wrestled with marriage either through divorces or in their rejection of the institution altogether, often opting for "partnership without laws."As a slight-framed African-American girl who attended mostly white private schools, the author's own coming-of-age in 1970s Manhattan was fraught with challenges. The virtual opposite of her turbulent sister Ramona, Patterson searched for her identity while navigating the 1980s world of music and style at nightclubs and in college, continually encouraged by her father to be courageous and resilient and to embrace her blackness. Adulthood forced her to choose between a career in publishing and a temporary gig at a strip club. "As sexist as stripping for money sounds," she writes, "I was dictating my own worth." Yet her greatest trial as a woman and a mother would arrive with the birth of her third child, Penelope, and the ensuing challenge of "living with a reality that has turned me upside down." As a toddler, Penelope experienced a radical, unconventional "declaration of self," telling her mother, "I am a boy." Patterson openly shares details from those early years, which were fraught with so many strong emotions, including guilt, confusion, and fear that Penelope would be robbed of the "uncomplicated freedom" of so-called normalcy. After months of soul-searching and discussions with her extended family, who were unconditionally accepting, the author came to terms with the reality that Penelope would now be known as Penel, her son. These revelations and developments did not occur, however, without bearing the brunt of societal intolerance, cruelty, and questioning of Patterson as a mother. "The world is unkind to people it doesn't understand--to those who don't live by its rules," she writes. The author's journey of familial love and fearless motherhood will particularly resonate with parents of transgender children and anyone who has struggled to be loved or accepted.An emotionally saturated memoir: dynamic, moving, and colorful.

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December 1, 2018
Growing up in a prosperous black family on New York's Upper West Side, Patterson felt she was part of a matriarchy of strong women, which led her to consider what it meant for her to be a strong woman, and, in particular, a strong black woman. Her strength is tested on the day her three-year-old daughter, Penelope, tells her she is a boy. Though the news is at first devastating, Patterson struggles to understand her daughter, who is now her son. To her credit, she always gives him her undivided support, and, as he grows, she begins to speak out publicly about Penel, as the family calls him, and his life circumstances. A best friend criticizes her for her very public candor, but Patterson is anxious to help other families like hers and to create understanding of the transgender experience. The result is this extremely valuable book about family, gender, race, and identity. Patterson has broken the silence, and readers will thank her for it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

September 15, 2018

Patterson's beauty companies, Doobop and Georgia by Jodie Patterson, have been recognized by stylish venues like O: The Oprah Magazine and Vogue, but here the author focuses on activism in the context of her African American family's experience with racism and civil rights, her coming of age in 1970s-80s New York City, and her life as the mother of five children, including a ten-year-old transgender son.

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