A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff Published by Dial Books for Young Readers, 2025

A World Worth Saving by Kyle Lukoff

Published by Dial Books for Young Readers, 2025

If you’re up for reading a fantasy dystopian novel geared for trans teens that fuses Jewish mythology and folklore with contemporary concerns, this novel is for you.  Kyle Lukoff (he/him) is an award-winning author with many outstanding books to his credit, and this book does not disappoint, but it is not for everyone.

 Covid lockdown is over, but fourteen-year-old A’s world feels smaller than ever.  Coming out as trans to his parents didn’t go well, and most days he barely leaves his bedroom.  But the low point of A’s life isn’t online- school, not being allowed to have a traditional bar mitzvah, or the fact that his parents monitor his phone like hawks, it’s the weekly Save Our Sons and Daughters meetings his parents make him attend. 

At SOSAD, A and his friends Sal and Yarrow sit by while their parents deadname them and wring their hands over a nonexistent “transgender craze.”  But sitting in silence has to be better than getting sent away for “advanced treatment” never to be heard from again. 

When Yarrow vanishes after a particularly confrontational meeting, A feels he has to take action.  A Jewish golem made of trash (instead of traditional clay) appears to A and imbues him with the ability to see “sheydim” or demons.  With this new-found ability, A is able to see that the leader of the SOSAD meetings is actually a demon.  A and Sal make their escape from the SOSAD meeting and the demonic leader and find temporary shelter first with some homeless trans and non-binary teens, and next at a synagogue with a sympathetic rabbi.  With the help of the trash golem, these new friends, and the rabbi and her husband, A finds the courage to fight against the demons of the world.  According to the rabbis, the demons are at their weakest during the holy 10-day period, when the Jewish communal spirit is the strongest.  This entire story takes place between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Jewish High Holy Days.  The novel ends on a high note.  SPOILER ALERT:   A is reunited with his parents who recognize him as their son and ask for his forgiveness.  A is attending a nearby high school that has an active Gender and Sexuality Alliance.  Thankfully every SOSAD chapter in the Pacific Northwest has collapsed. 

Some of my favorite quotes are spoken by the trash golem:

 “I have been sent to you.  By whom and for why, I know not…. Perhaps I am here because you are a trans fourteen-year-old who has already claimed the right to name himself.  You are in the midst of your own creation, which gives you strength beyond imagining.  And like the twilight, like the shore, like every littoral edge, one in the process of becoming is imbued with holiness.” 

 “You are the only human being in the long history of mankind to be born to your parents, to this place, in this body, in this moment, with this mind.  Which makes you the same as every human being who has ever lived – unique and irreplaceable.”

Content Warning:  transphobia, dead-naming, toxic parental relationships, suicide, forced institutionalization

Kyle Lukoff (he/him) is the author of many books for young readers of all ages.  His debut middle-grade novel, Too Bright to See, received a Newbery Honor, the Stonewall Award, and was a National Book Award finalist.  His picture book When Aidan Became a Brother also won the Stonewall.  While becoming a writer he worked as a bookseller for ten years, and then nine more years as a school librarian.  Learn more about Kyle Lukoff at kylelukoff.com.

This book review was submitted by Stand with Trans
advocate Barb Shumer, who is a past board member and retired public librarian..