TOP BRO! (BRORSAN ÄR KUNG!)

Interview about Top Bro (in Swedish)

Winner of the Primo Andersen Award 2024

Nominated for the German Children’s Literature Award 2024 

I looked around. The ceiling was white and almost as high as the sky, and was supported by enormous red beams. I read on a sign, black letters on a white ground: MALMÖ. Inside, I had kind of a tingle of bubbly anticipation. Because here in Malmö, no one knew anything about me. Here, I can be just exactly who I am.

Måns normally lives in Stockholm, where everything is pretty boring and tedious. But right now he’s in a new city over the summer. He has come with his mother to Malmö, where she will be working. One of the first days he meets Mikkel, a guy who looks absolutely horrifying and dangerus, his eyes are narrow, like angry slits and he has tattoos all over his arms. Mikkel challenges Måns on skateboard, and Måns succeed much better than Mikkel had thought. From that day they begin to hang out and Måns has never had so much fun with someone else. The summer in Malmö seems to be the best in Måns’ eleven-year old life. But what happens when your newfound friend does not think that you have been honest with everything?

160 pages

Rights

Denmark: Gyldendal
Germany: Urachhaus
Italy: Iperborea
Netherlands: Ploegsma
North American rights: Arctis US
Norway: Gyldendal
Sweden: Rabén & Sjögren

BLURB

“This book fills a huge gap in Swedish literature and it will save lives.”
Saga Becker, award winning Swedish actress and a well-known spokes-person for the Swedish LGBTQ movement

REVIEWS

“Eleven-year-old Marcus lives in Stockholm, but his mom’s job as a voice actor means he’s spending the summer in Mälmo, a city in southern Sweden. At first Marcus is nervous around his tough new neighbor, Mikkel (or is he saying “Me kill”? It’s hard for Marcus to understand his dialect)—a kid covered in tattoos. But after Marcus proves himself in a skateboarding contest (and a gnarly skateboarding accident), Mikkel declares them “blood brothers.” . . . When Marcus came out as a trans boy, his dad didn’t take it well—and now he worries that telling Mikkel might mean losing him, too. Jägerfeld is a master of quirky character details, from Marcus’s dad’s bicycling “diaper” (really cushioned bike shorts) to his mom’s nude mime routine. Narrator Marcus’s observations are laugh-out-loud funny and sometimes wise, as he reflects on his experiences as a trans person with confidence that no one knows his identity better than him. The trans storyline covers familiar ground, but Marcus’s thoughts about his identity and the pain he feels in the face of rejection are movingly and satisfyingly portrayed.”
The Horn Book / USA

“Top Bro! is so cleverly constructed that the key issue finally isn’t just a matter of gender, but also a matter of emotional courage and friendship – about identity from more angels than the gender at birth. But this theme is integrated with everything else eleven and twelve year olds struggle with, like unbelievably embarrassing parents in shiny bicycle gear and a nervous debut on Instagram. Jenny Jägerfeld does this so very skillfully, she does it with her well know drastic language, her way to make us create pictures of the scenes, and her ability to make every single supporting character. It is touching, intense and often extraordinary funny. And with lots of hope.”
Göteborgsposten / SWE

“Fun and serious, important and damn good.”
Lisa Bjärbo, Vi läser / SWE

“For starters, this is a really good book! Secondly, it fills a gap. Måns has always known he is a boy, despite that he was baptized Michelle. He has always felt like Måns and has no problem with that. Others are not always as supportive, though and that is really where the problem is. With those who cannot see Måns for who he is. And that is what I like, that Måns is so natural with his own situation, which in an obvious way makes it clear that the problem is not with him.  I also like that the book isn’t filled with a ton of pointers and that it isn’t overly educational, it is simply a literary work. And I like that the main character sometimes communicates with the reader, it turns to me as a reader and that isn’t that common (unless a book is in the form of a diary). I just simply like everything with this book. Read!”
romeoandjuliet.blogg / SWE

“Top Bro! is a very nice and warm story about a child, a young boy, who struggles for the right to be the one to define who he is, but it is also about friendship overcoming obstacles. Jenny Jägerfeld writes a beautiful, easy-flowing prose, and the book is a pleasure to read with its great character portrayals and environments that you can actually scent. The portrayal of the trans boy is warm and insightful, with a sensitivity that is touchable, and which can provide the reader with important insights. A very readable book!”
BTJ / SWE