The Shapeshifter’s Guide to Gym Class by Kai Cheng Thom: A Middle Grade Review

In The Shapeshifter’s Guide to Gym Class, Kai Cheng Thom uses shapeshifters and a spreading blight to explore how quickly suspicion can fracture a welcoming community. The story follows 13-year-old Maia and her friends in Nor Numinem, a small town where differences have seemed easy to accept. When a garden plot withers, that sense of safety begins to break down.

Adults start calling the blight “The Rot” and blaming shapeshifters for it. As the damage spreads, so does hostility toward the people being blamed. Maia and her friends face pressure from outside their group just as divisions begin to emerge within it. The setup gives the novel room to consider how fear takes hold, who gets treated as a threat, and how difficult it can be to stay together when a community turns suspicious.

A fantasy story with a contemporary concern

Reviewer Cindy, a middle school librarian with an MLS, reads the shapeshifter conflict as a “thinly veiled look at anti-LGBTQ sentiment” in contemporary society. That interpretation is grounded in the book’s account of a marginalized group being blamed for a crisis and facing louder, more violent hostility. The fantasy premise makes the social conflict visible, while Maia’s friendships give young readers a personal point of entry.

The novel includes transgender characters, and another character is described as non-binary. The review lists its mature content as PG because of its discussion of transgender identity. Its language advisory is G, with no swearing reported. These details may help librarians and families weigh the book’s content for middle school readers, alongside its treatment of prejudice and social division.

What the review finds less successful

Cindy’s response is mixed. She found the title misleading because, in her view, little of the story takes place during gym class. More broadly, she says she was underwhelmed. That judgment matters for readers deciding whether the book’s premise and themes are enough to carry the reading experience: the review recognizes the contemporary parallel, but doesn’t feel the novel fully delivers on its promise.

The cover depicts a multi-ethnic group of characters, while Cindy felt their actions within the book defaulted to white behavior. She also notes that some characters are shapeshifters. Her observation raises a question about how a book’s visual presentation and characterization work together, though the source review doesn’t expand on particular scenes or explain what changes she would have wanted to see.

Who might want to read it

The original advisory marks The Shapeshifter’s Guide to Gym Class as optional for middle school readers and says it will appeal to some. That points to a selective recommendation: readers interested in fantasy that takes on exclusion, identity, and friendship may be drawn to Maia’s story, while those looking for a more satisfying execution may share Cindy’s reservations. The review doesn’t disclose major plot turns, so prospective readers can approach the conflict without losing the story’s surprises.

The book is listed at 322 pages and was published by Simon and Schuster in 2026. Its listed price is $18. For book clubs or school libraries, the most useful discussion may be the gap between Nor Numinem’s initial welcome and the blame that follows The Rot: what sustains acceptance when fear starts reshaping a community, and what happens when friends disagree about how to respond?

Thom’s novel offers a clear premise for readers who want middle grade fantasy to engage with present-day prejudice. Cindy’s review suggests that the themes may be more compelling than the reading experience itself. Readers weighing the book can look to its portrayal of Maia’s fractured friendships, its transgender and non-binary representation, and the reviewer’s reservations about characterization and the title.