Kyle Lukoff loves Annabelle. The protagonist of his forthcoming middle grade novel Different Kinds of Fruit (April 12) is "just  and vivacious and loud,” says Lukoff. "Annabelle is ridiculous."

At first, though, Annabelle was a mystery. Lukoff had trouble finding the sixth grader's voice and defining who she was.

“I started writing it in sort of a flat, third person, and I kept struggling over the first page,” he says. “I was like ‘This is so dull. This feels extremely amateur. Do I know how to write anymore? Do I only have one good book in me?’”

Lukoff found Annabelle in an unexpected way.

“Sometimes when I'm in an especially punchy mood, I will write a post, or respond to comments, in run-on sentences, in a very flippant and somewhat dry tone,” he says. “I was writing a response to something on Facebook and I was like, ‘Man I wish I could write a whole novel in this voice.’ Then I was like, ‘Wait, I can.’”

He rewrote the first paragraph of the book in one long sentence, a fun exercise of stream-of-consciousness. It worked.

“Her voice opened up for me,” he says.

From there, the struggle subsided, and the book flowed more freely.

“The whole novel is really driven by her bubbly, emotional, kind of confused, and very thoughtful approach to life,” says Lukoff. “She's full of questions, and always wondering about what's going on. So the humor is really driven by her voice— which, to be clear, is my voice when I have too much sugar.”

Annabelle befriends a new kid, who is nonbinary, and her parents' reaction makes her wonder if they are not as accepting as she always thought. Instead, she learns her parents have kept a big secret from her and her new friendship leads to the revelation.

No spoilers here, but Annabelle takes readers along as she navigates a new world, working through the truth she has just learned, her new family dynamic, and getting to know her new friend. Like most middle schoolers, in this difficult and confusing time, she learns who are her real friends. The novel not only deals with Annabelle's personal journey at home but her need to juggle different social dynamics at her school, which is a combination of the school where Lukoff worked as a school librarian and the middle school he attended, Lukoff says.

While the family secret might not be a typical tween experience, Lukoff believes the relationships in the book and story will resonate with young readers, because he is honest with them—never resorting to the platitudes other adults may try to feed children. He understands and acknowledges how hard growing up can be, he says.

“I'm really bad at lying,” Lukoff says. “I have a hard time telling the kids things if I don’t actually believe them, and I think that carries [over] to this book as well.”

Fans of Too Bright to See, which won the Stonewall Award for children’s books and was a Newbery Honor title, will find a completely new story and experience with Different Kinds of Fruit. The only similarities, according to Lukoff, are that both books are “largely about queer and trans masculine identities.” Beyond that, Different Kinds of Fruit is “wildly different in just about every other regard.” 

Lukoff calls this his most personal book yet.

“So much of my experiences in the trans community are put into it, so much of it feels like it’s just for me and a dozen of my friends,” he says. “I will be really curious to see what resonates with people, what makes people confused, what makes people angry.”

Mostly, though, he wants readers to laugh.

“I hope people think that it's funny,” Lukoff says. “That’s my number one goal.”