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Reviewed by: Lisa Rice, Middle School Librarian Title: Twelfth Knight
Author: Alexene Farol Follmuth
Illustrator:
Publisher: Tor Teen
Year: 2024 Good for Grades: 9-12 Genre/Type of Book: YA romance, comedy, fantasy
Content Warnings, or things that other School Librarians should be aware of: n/a
Recommended for a school library: Yes Reason(s) for choosing the book: It had cool sprayed edges and looked fun!
If you were tasked by the publisher with writing a short quote for the back cover of this book, what would it be:
"I'm never more aware of what color my skin is than when people are suddenly asking me how they can be a better ally." -Jack, page 125
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Review:
This book would weirdly appeal to football fans, romance lovers, and gamers, and people who like role-playing games! I sort of like the first two and hate the third and fourth and I still really liked this book! It has a lot of football talk and game play talk- I learned a lot! It is a romance, but there is so much more to it. The two main characters are Jack and Vi (Viola).
Jack's father and brother are All-American quarterbacks, so Jack knows what is expected of him. But he is a running back, and even as the best running back in maybe the entire country, he still lives in his dad's shadow. And Jack's coach is...his dad! Vi is the VP of the Student Council and Jack is the president. Vi says it is a farce that he got the votes to be president since the football team counted the votes. Vi lends a feminist slant to the book, pointing out all the ways that women are treated as less than equals and it is done is a stark but funny way, which I appreciated.
I learned a lot about online gaming in this book- RPGs, MMORPG, NPCs, that fridging is when you kill off a female character in order to give a male character motivation (p.291), and to want a happy ending is considered feminine and the masculine is that the best woman is the one who dies. In this book, Twelfth Knight is a game like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy. Vi decides to play the game against Jack but disguises herself as her brother Bash. Vi says that playing the game as a guy is better because it is one place that boys don't "well actually" her ten times day, and if boys know that it is a girl playing, they will come after you unnecessarily. When she is her gaming character, Vi feels trusted and admired- "they just know I'm a dude, and that's enough for them (p.34)." There is a lot to discuss with students right here.
The book is not all preachy about women's rights- there is football and romance too, and I think both sexes will like the book. I liked this book for the story and the humor but also for the themes of feminism, toxic masculinity, LGBTQIA+, dealing with fear and loss, how we treat others, why kindness matters, importance of loyalty, economic discrepancies based on where you live, sexism in the gaming world, intersectional feminism, and religious issues. That's a lot to address in one book and not have it seem preachy. There is a lot to pick from to discuss if you use this book in a school/library book club. I think it gives our gamers and sports enthusiasts a lot to contribute as well. I think Vi sums it up well at the end: "I just think maybe happiness isn't crossing a finish line or finally meeting the right person or getting the right job or finding the right life. It's the little things. It's not just about the endgame. The game isn't the dice. It's who's with you at the table."
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