Books for Young People
This charming Zed
EDITOR’S CHOICE
The Sylvesters’ story about a non-binary tween on a literary quest is completely irresistible
BY SHANDA DEZIEL
★ The Fabulous Zed Watson!
HarperCollins, Ages 8–12
Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester
THERE ARE FEW BOOKS that offer unadulterated joy from beginning to end. But The Fabulous Zed Watson! is a middle-grade wonder: a literary mystery and Onward-esque road-trip story that celebrates self-described nerds and weirdos, and reinforces the power of friendship.
The novel starts in a library, where tween Zed Watson does all their interneting, since their parents have enforced a “no screens until you’re 16” rule. The librarian positively reacts to Zed’s chosen name and they/them pronouns, and the scene is set for a story that centres on a non-binary character while not being about traumatic gender-identity experiences. No one is more confident in who they are than Zed. “I’m a very flamboyant and well-regarded drama kwing,” they say. “Kwing is a combo of ‘queen’ and ‘king’ for us theydies and gentlethems.”
Zed is completely obsessed with a Gothic novel called The Monster’s Castle, which tells the tortured love story of a werewolf and a vampire. Although, Zed can’t be sure if the monsters’ true love prevails because the author only released four chapters of the book years ago and then hid the rest. Zed spends their free time conversing online with 35 other members of The Monster’s Castle fan site trying to crack the author’s clues and find the location of the full manuscript.
A chance in-person meeting with Gabe, one of the other site members, leads to a breakthrough in the mystery, and together Zed and Gabe chart out a possible route to the treasure. Gabe is a silent brooder who dresses in all black and loves opera. A typical outfit for Zed, on the other hand, is a “purple sweater with funky squares and white-and-black-striped sweatpants,” and they know all the lyrics and dance moves to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies.” Gabe likes the flora and fauna found in The Monster’s Castle, while Zed is all about the creatures of the night. At first, Gabe seems shy in the face of Zed’s theatrics and passion, but he’s drawn to his new friend’s intellect, humour, and wordplay. When Gabe rattles off the Latin scientific name of a flower, Zed drolly replies, “I’ll take your weird for it.”