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Update on David Levithan gendered-pronoun issue:

As I may have mentioned here a while back, I was startled and a little dismayed when I read the author note at the beginning of Levithan’s Six Earlier Days (prequel to Every Day), which used the word “his” in referring to the nongendered protagonist, whose name is A. I interpreted that line as the author thinking of the character as male, and I was grumpy enough about that that it sort of cast a shadow on my enjoyment of the book. (It didn’t help that I went on to read Another Day, which retells the events of Every Day from Rhiannon’s point of view, and in which Rhiannon sometimes tends to wishfully think of A as male.)

The other day, I finally figured out how to get in touch with Levithan; turns out that his Facebook page has a place for asking him questions, which turns the question you type into a Facebook message. So I asked him about it. And I got a response from him, letting me know that the word “his” had been a typo, and that it’s supposed to be fixed in future editions of the book.

(I’ll try to drop a note to the publisher, because the ebook is still being sold with the misgendering pronoun, and I would guess it might not be too hard for them to correct that even if they’re not ready to do a new paper edition.)

I’m relieved, and glad that Levithan took the time to respond to me. Knowing the “his” was unintentional will make it easier for me to relax into and enjoy the sequel, Someday, which is coming out in October.