Raising Ollie

How My Nonbinary Art-Nerd Kid Changed (Nearly) Everything I Know

Tom Rademacher

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English

University of Minnesota Press
03 January 2022

Memoirs; Gender studies, gender groups; Education

"The account of one radically new school year for a Teacher of the Year and for his nonbinary, art-obsessed, brilliant child

Seven-year-old Ollie was researching local advanced school programs-because every second grader does that, right? Ollie, who used to hate weekends because they meant no school, was crying on the way to school almost every day. Sure, there were the slings and arrows of bullies and bad teachers, but, maybe worse, Ollie, a funny, anxious, smart kid with a thing for choir and an eye for graphic art, was gravely underchallenged and also struggling with identity and how to live totally as themselves. Ollie begged to switch to a new school with ""kids like me,"" where they wouldn't feel so alone, or so bored, and so they made the change.

Raising Ollie is dad Tom Rademacher's story (really, many stories) of that eventful and sometimes painful school year, parenting Ollie and relearning every day what it means to be a father and teacher. As Ollie-who is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, and prefers art to athletics, vegetables to cake, and animals to most humans-flourishes in their new school, Rademacher is making an eye-opening adjustment to a new school of his own, one that's whiter and more suburban than anywhere he has previously taught, with a history of racial tension that he tries to address and navigate.

While Ollie is learning to code, 3D model, animate, speak Japanese, and finally feel comfortable at school, Rademacher increasingly sees how his own educational struggles, anxieties, and childhood upbringing are reflected in his teaching, writing, and parenting, as well as in Ollie's experience. And with this story of one anything-but-academic year of inquiry and wonder, doubt and revelation, he shows us how raising a kid changes everything-and how much raising a kid like Ollie can teach us about who we are and what we're doing in the world."

By: Tom Rademacher
Imprint: University of Minnesota Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 210mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 25mm
ISBN: 9781517911737
ISBN 10: 1517911737
Pages: 200
Publication Date: 03 January 2022
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: The Many Stories of Olive April: School Trouble May: The Music Teacher June: Looking for a New School July: In Denver August: Open Houses and Kids Like Me September: The Year Starts October: The Infamous C Word Conference November: Art and Weirdos December: Anxiety Time January: What Do We Do With Smart Kids February: So White March: Lemonade, Mountain Dew, Meth April: Sex Ed May: Student Activism June: The Most Right Thing

Tom Rademacher is an eighth grade English teacher in the Minneapolis area. His book It Won't Be Easy: An Exceedingly Honest (and Slightly Unprofessional) Love Letter to Teaching (Minnesota, 2017) was a finalist for a Minnesota Book Award. His writing has been published in Education Post, City Pages, MinnPost, and Huffington Post. In 2014 he was honored as Minnesota's Teacher of the Year.

Reviews for Raising Ollie: How My Nonbinary Art-Nerd Kid Changed (Nearly) Everything I Know

As vulnerable and honest a piece I've ever read from an educator, Tom Rademacher's beautiful and conversational story ought to encourage more of us to dig deeper and reflect harder. -Jose Luis Vilson, educator, father, executive director of EduColor, and author of This Is Not A Test: A New Narrative on Race, Class, and Education A fine introduction to nonbinary gender identity, courtesy of a child and their supportive parents. -Kirkus Reviews