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I don't disagree with anything you say. But a friend across the street has a middle school daughter who finished it and said, "This is my life!" and had a family experience of it that was so impressive, I keep raising my assessment of the book. It was pretty moving to see/read about. It just told a story many girls can relate to. My wife is an electrician who grew up in the country. She was a tomboy. My sister was a tomboy who wanted to be outside helping Dad when I wanted to be in the kitchen helping Dad� It's a book for tweens and YA, I think and reaches that audience.

And your liking Dan's review.. I get that, and I prefer darker, more complicated memoirs (and some of Prince's own self-deprecating memoirs are edgier, though always funny�) but the audience here requires encouragement, of how to be "gettin' ovah"...

I think both your positive and Dan's not so positive review have a point, it just depends on what you expect from your literature.
On the one hand, I very much sympathize with the book's attempt to tear down discriminatory norms, and I admire the protagonist's courage. As a "guidebook," TOMBOY works very well.
As literature, on the other hand, I feel that while the book has its moments, it becomes a bit too predictable in places. We know from the start what the message is, and every aspect of the book is designed to promote that (very important and likable) message. A little more depth and complexity would have been nice, not necessarily "darkness."
That is just my perspective, of course, and if I was twelve I am sure I would have been more impressed. Maybe it also plays a role that I grew up in Western Europe where gender roles tend to be less rigid than in North America, and so the book's message feels very obvious to me. There is no word for "tomboy" in my native German language, for example, and that is not because there are no Germans who could theoretically be labeled that way if people were more concerned about gender norms.

All that is well-taken and solid.

Yes, I thought more complexity was needed, but I didn't actually mean darkness. Well, maybe I did. But I rewrote my review, on the topic that Prince has nothing new to say...

Nothing new, maybe, but I felt that the awkwardness of some situations (during and after that educational film on menstruation; those meanings of early kisses) was well captured. And when you write about "big" topics such as gender socialization (or love or death or something like that) that thousands of people have already written about, I guess it is ultimately not so much about saying something new and more about saying it well. I agree, though, that the story felt a bit forced and simplistic in places.

You also write in your review that you found it whiny - that impression I did not get at all. Btw, I also completely disagree with those "Generation Wuss" accusations - a very interesting topic in itself :)

And as David suggested, maybe we are just not the prime target audience. I think the book should work well for young adolescents, regardless of gender.