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For Transgender Day of Visibility, here are some recently published fiction and nonfiction books for intermediate readers that celebrate identities beyond the binary. See also our booklists for primary and older readers. For more related books, click any of the subject tags below.
159 pp.
| Pajama
| February, 2019
|
TradeISBN 978-1-77278-069-7$16.95
(3)
4-6
Illustrated by
Tara Anderson.
Nine-year-old Jeannie and her new pet hamster, Sapphire, share narrating duties as both attempt to make sense of the world. Jeannie's father has recently moved out; she later learns he's dating a man. Friendship with a transgender neighbor helps Jeannie come to terms with the changes in her family. Brenna skillfully handles contemporary issues with a believable child's point-of view and plenty of gentle humor.
(2)
4-6
At eleven-year-old Liv's new school, boys can wear pants, but "girls must wear a black, pleated, knee-length skirt." And while narrator Liv might "look like a girl...on the inside, I'm a boy." Strong-willed, introspective Liv is a likable and relatable protagonist navigating friendships, identity, and relationships at home with his two supportive moms. A touching novel on a timely subject.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2017
(3)
4-6
This collective biography includes brief profiles of influential LBGTQ figures from the arts (e.g., Andy Warhol), entertainment (George Takei), science (Neena Schwartz), politics (Sharice Davids), activism (Bayard Rustin), sports (Billie Jean King), and business (Tim Cook). Each two-page entry comprises a paragraph or two sketching out highlights of an individual's life, accomplishments, and legacy on the verso and a photograph on the recto. Clemesha shares his personal story in an introductory note. An annotated list of fourteen additional LGBTQ notables, timeline, glossary, source notes, and related websites are appended.
(2)
4-6
This verse novel follows sixth grader Noah as he processes his grief over the death of his best friend, Lewis, in a car accident. The two were connected by things the world didn't necessarily understand: a shared interest in the elusive cryptid Mothman and their own gender identities. Known to their families and friends by their assigned genders and birth names, the friends had shared their true identities as boys only with each other, making the loss even more heartbreaking for Noah. To honor Lewis's memory, Noah (whose autism spectrum disorder is naturally incorporated) decides to dedicate his science fair project to proving Mothman's existence. Through letters to Mothman, written in a journal that he leaves at the edge of the woods, Noah finds the companionship he is desperate for, which eventually leads to his bravely seeking out new friendships. Gow draws poignant comparisons between the misunderstood Mothman and Noah's burgeoning understanding of his queerness. "I think monsters are here / to make people like me feel less alone." Noah's journey through grief and coming out to the world is authentically messy and joyful.
Reviewer: Hill Saxton
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2023
320 pp.
| Dial
| April, 2022
|
TradeISBN 978-0-59311-118-5$17.99
(3)
4-6
Living with her dad and mom near Seattle, sixth grader Annabelle finds her ho-hum life becomes a lot more interesting with the arrival of nonbinary new student Bailey, whose pronouns are they/them. Already quietly questioning her own sexual orientation, Annabelle is drawn to Bailey like a magnet, but Annabelle's father is surprisingly unwelcoming. His bombshell explanation: he's actually a transman and Annabelle's gestational parent, who, unlike Bailey, had to keep his identity secret to avoid discrimination. Although the dialogue is more earnest than realistic, this exploration of gender issues will engage readers with its satisfying progression as the sixth graders fight a bigoted mother in the classroom and take steps to join the wider LGBTQ+ community.
(2)
4-6
Melleby and Sass bring together the middle school–aged protagonists they each created for the 2021 short-story anthology This Is Our Rainbow (co-edited by Melleby and Katherine Locke) in this novel set at a camp for LGBTQ+ youth. Melleby's Abigail (she/her/hers), all but ostracized by her friends since she admitted to a crush on one of their mothers, begs her parents to send her to the camp. Sass's Kai (e/em/eir) attends under protest: eir parents sign em up after a bullying incident. The two newbies form sometimes-bumpy relationships with each other and with the more seasoned campers in a safe but not necessarily awkwardness-free space. There's a heightened awareness (even more than in other settings) that anyone might be romantically interested in anyone else--or might not. There's also, realistically, a wide range of knowledge about and comfort with queer identities among the kids: one of them launches a campaign for a more inclusive camp name ("there's no letter in the QUILTBAG acronym for pansexual kids, plus a lot of others"), while Kai tries to remember what pansexual means. Intersectionality in the differences between campers adds another dimension, especially in the area of religion: Abigail attends Catholic school; Kai is "kind of" Jewish and tentatively learns more about Judaism from another camper. This engaging, gently affirming novel should be valuable to young readers exploring their own identities or curious about those of others.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
March, 2023
(3)
4-6
Sixteen gay and gender-nonconforming authors contribute fictional stories to this anthology. The entries range from the realistic (two school-age fanfic writers realize that they're transgender like their online avatars) to the speculative (teen witch turns herself into a dog to get close to her crush); from narrative poetry to a graphic-novel-format story, in which a delightful trio of kids takes a self-effacing new nonbinary student to the thrift store to find their own homespun "cozy ghost" style. The creators capture the middle school age perfectly: the protagonists are still children, but the seeds of what they will become are beginning to sprout.
280 pp.
| Algonquin
| March, 2018
|
TradeISBN 978-1-61620-723-6$16.95
(4)
4-6
Twelve-year-old Nat (Natalia), who recently moved to Canada with her larger-than-life celebrity dad, doesn't know who her mother is (though she could easily find out). She meets Harry, a boy whose parents aren't supportive of his trans identity. Harry's story is woven into Nat's, but Nat emerges as a better-fleshed-out character. While there are a lot of threads to keep track of, Rivers's exploration of identity will keep readers engaged.
240 pp.
| Little
| October, 2020
|
TradeISBN 978-0-316-45861-0$16.99
|
EbookISBN 978-0-316-45863-4$9.99
(2)
4-6
After winning the title of U.S. Juvenile Girls Champion in figure skating, twelve-year-old Ana-Marie Jin is ready to start a new season on the ice, competing at a higher level and commuting most days from San Francisco to a new rink in Oakland. It also means working with a new choreographer who is not only strict but requires all female skaters to wear skirts, even to practice. Ana starts to notice that "girly" things at which she had previously never blinked an eye, such as being referred to as "Miss Ana-Marie" and wearing a bedazzled costume for competitions, now make her cringe. With help from new friend Hayden, a transgender skate student she meets at the rink, Ana begins to see her gender in a new, fluid way: "Uncertainty feels like less of a burden and more of an opportunity." Ana's family (a single-parent Chinese American Jewish family) is not one frequently represented in middle-grade stories. For all of the protagonist's discomfort, the tone of the story remains hopeful as she works toward a new understanding of herself. She decides to continue using her given name and pronouns--a helpful reminder that there is no one way to identify as nonbinary. The personal connection of the author, a figure skater who identifies as nonbinary, to the story is evident within its pages in both the nuances of figure skating and Ana's interrogation of gender, and is explained in a thoughtful note at the end.
Reviewer: Hill Saxton
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2020
(3)
4-6
One summer, neighborhood children enact fantastical adventures by constructing places and costumes out of cardboard. The diverse group includes a boy pushing gender norms with his alter-ego "the Sorceress," who he describes as "what I want to be." A refreshing look at what creative kids can do with a little imagination, this graphic novel uses vivid color and expression and very few words.
64 pp.
| Quarto/Wide Eyed
| May, 2019
|
TradeISBN 978-1-78603-476-2$22.99
(3)
4-6
Illustrated by
Sarah Tanat-Jones.
"We've worked really hard to turn things people hate about us into things we love about ourselves--even the word queer!" Sicardi proudly writes in an inspiring introduction. The LGBTQ heroes presented range from teen gun activist Emma González to trans moviemakers Lana and Lilly Wachowski to Oscar Wilde. Sans organization but with lively portraits and design embellishments, the scrapbook-like volume is best for browsing. Glos.
216 pp.
| Bloomsbury
| April, 2019
|
TradeISBN 978-1-5476-0100-4$16.99
|
EbookISBN 978-1-5476-0102-8
(2)
4-6
Eleven-year-old December, who unwaveringly believes she will fly, is changing foster houses. Again. But maybe new foster mother Eleanor's house will be different. December befriends a classmate in gender transition, withstands mean-girl abuse, and reluctantly grows to depend on Eleanor, who offers her space without expectation. December's complicated bird-identity coping strategy feels genuinely childlike, and Stark-McGinnis weaves it through the story with such consistency that it makes equal sense to readers.
Reviewer: Thom Barthelmess
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2019
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