Exploring Books, The Pride Edition: Transgender and Non-Binary Stories
Welcome to June! May has passed by way to fast for me, but I certainly am enjoying the longer days, the warmer evenings and dreaming about fun weekend adventures. With June being Pride month for the LBGTQ+ community, this year especially, with the trans community being so viciously targeted across the country, it feels especially important to highlight some books that help explain or process the trans and non-binary experience.
I’ve worked to include books for people of all ages and I have mostly chosen books I have read or am familiar with, but there are so many more books out there! Choosing books for this is NOT easy mostly because there are a wealth of great stories to tell!
Not all these works are by trans or non-binary authors, but many of them, especially the non-fiction, are and that feels important this month.
As an additional plug, even if this subject isn’t one you feel the need to read about, please, please, please consider purchasing one of these books or checking one out of the library! By showing that you are willing to spend dollars on it, you are helping more of these stories get told. By checking these out of the library, you are helping them stay available. With the concerning rise of book bans in this country, many of these stories are actively being removed from shelves, so using our money and our library holds to show we want to see more books like this is so important right now!
I am not an expert in the subject at all, and the books below that I have read were books that I really enjoyed and got a lot out if, but they are also books that interested me as someone who wants to be the best ally I can be. For a more extensive list that is specifically geared to those who are transitioning or know someone who is, I liked this list by PFLAG, and this list, which is specifically geared for children.
To explore a more extensive list of award-winning books specific to the trans experience and many other LBGTQ+ experiences, I highly recommend looking at both the Lambda Awards and the Stonewall Book Awards
Non-Fiction For Adults
The books below run the gamut from histories, both global and US-centric to individual stories or a more self-help/guide style of book. All of these are by authors who identify as transgender or nonbinary.
- Transgender History by Susan Stryker
- Darling Days: A Memoir by iO Tillet Wright
- Pageboy by Eliot Page
- The T Guide by Gigi Gorgeous and Gottmik
- Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyem
- Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource by and for Transgender Communities, edited by Laura Erickson-Schroth
Adult Fiction
Not all these books have non-binary protagonists, but they all have strong transgender or gender nonconforming characters. Some are fantasy or science fiction and some are gender-bending historical fiction. While quite a few of these have characters who deal with discrimination related to their identity, some also create worlds where gender identity is more fluid, which allows for a level of acceptance I wish we could see in our actual world today.
- Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea and A Pirate’s Life for Tea by Rebecca Thorne
- The Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire
- The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K LeGuin
- Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters
- She Who Became The Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
- An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
For Older Kids
EDIT: In a previous version of this post, I had listed George by Alex Gino. This book was actually republished as Melissa in 2021 to reflect the main character’s desired identity.
I relied fairly heavily on book awards to develop this list, which is a mix of graphic novels, realistic fiction and non-fiction. Many of these books represent information in a way that is appropriate for school age kids, and the stories deal with everything from kids discovering their own gender identities to kids dealing with the gender identities of their friends, family and even historical figures.
- Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff
- Melissa by Alex Gino
- The Gender Wheel: A Story About Bodies and Gender for Every Body by Maya Christina Gonzalez (the website www.genderwheel.com has some great additional resources!)
- Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff (Author)
- The Civil War of Amos Abernathy by Michael Leali (Author)
- The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
Picture Books
The list below is a mix of books with explicitly nonbinary characters, books with non-human characters about being/feeling different, and books about kids who just want to wear a sparkly skirt. The main themes here are empowering kids to express themselves in a way that feels authentic to them, and helping them support others around them to do the same.
- Kapaemahu by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson
- From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea by Kai Cheng Them
- Pink is for Everybody by Ella Russell
- Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love
- Red: A Crayon’s Story by Michael Hall
- Sparkle Boy by Leslea Newman
- The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
There are so many more great books out there to share, but for now, I can’t get much more into the post! I hope you have a great week, and I will be back Saturday to share some of my favorite May books (one of them is above!).
