I was aware of the subject matter (the foster child that is a sixteen year old boy with gender dysphoria) of this 'novella' before I started reading it, and I honestly questioned whether a novella was really an appropriate length to explore such issues. Of course the reason for this is because Carl/Amy were not actually with Maggie for that long. It's one of the downsides to this type of memoir, of course we are really interested in the life of the focus of the memoir, which is generally the foster kids, but the 'protagonist' is actually the foster carer, so you only get the glimpse that they get. Obviously, the life Amy will lead would be of interest, but Maggie was only in that first chapter of her journey. Ultimately that is what it is like being a foster parent at times, so in fact it being so short gives you a glimpse of that reality.