trans micro-library starter kit

Bethany of The Transfeminine Review recently made a giant post called "The Trans Literature Preservation Project: A Practical Guide to Resisting Censorship." Someone on Bluesky asked, "Is there a good place to donate to support Trans Literature preservation?"

Emily Zhou (trans woman author and editor at a small trans press) said, "I mean just buy our books lol. less likely than any form of direct censorship is the publishing industry deciding that we're just not worth the headache. if our books are selling well in spite of the controversy they'll lean into the controversy" Bethany and others echoed this sentiment.

I've been making Trans Day of Visibility book rec posts every year for a few years now, so I was gonna link to the trans tag here in case people wanted some ideas of books, but in going back through the tag, there are a bunch of cis authors (especially of picturebooks) -- which is fine, but less the point for this specific project.

I've also read books by trans authors that don't particularly focus on trans characters/stories -- like Yoon Ha Lee's Machineries of Empire (military sff space opera series with I think one secondary trans character) or Kyle Lukoff's I'm Sorry You Got Mad (a picturebook about apologies) -- so they weren't on my TDoV lists.

I culled through my 2021-2024 TDoV posts (plus the titles I had for 2025's post so far) and tried to think of what hadn't been included in that but was still trans lit I had liked. I decided to still focus this list on stories that center trans characters -- in part because it was already taking me forever to pull this together even without going back through all the other books I've read by trans authors and thinking about whether I would include them and what I would say about them.

In the "Microlibraries: Your Community’s Lifeline Under a Fascist Regime" section of that giant post, Bethany wrote:

Here’s the fundamental principle of a microlibrary – build your collection on the assumption that it is the only access to trans books that you and your community will have.

[...]

It doesn’t matter if 5000 people make a microlibrary – if 4998 of them only have a pool of the same hundred books, then we’ve failed as a community to preserve trans literature as a whole. The weirder and more unique/personalized you can make your microlibrary, the more likely it is to make a significant contribution to the preservation of trans literature as a body and a whole.

I'm not yet at the point of intentionally curating a personal micro-library (though I have started just buying books by trans authors more frequently), but below is a list of books I might include in such a project, with blurbs from when I've written about them over the years. (Yes, there are a lot of picturebooks. I have read A LOT of picturebooks over the past nearly-a-decade for Radical Aunting reasons.)

***

picturebooks

general

If I were building a micro-library because works by and about trans people were being actively destroyed/their publication suppressed, I would probably include some of the picturebooks I think are good about helping kids think about gender/the concept of being transgender. Those books are going to be almost just as suppressed.

• It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity written by Theresa Thorn (the mother of a transgender child) & illustrated by Noah Grigni (a non-binary artist) (2019, Macmillan)
• Being You: A First Conversation about Gender written by Megan Madison (a Black queer woman who I believe is cis) and Jessica Ralli (white, cisgender mom) & illustrated by Anne/Andy Passchier (non-binary) (2021/2022, Penguin Random House -- available in board book or regular hardcover picturebook)

Books by trans people I would include:

What Are Your Words? A Book About Pronouns written by Katherine Locke & illustrated by Anne "Andy" Passchier (2021, Hachette) -- both author and illustrator use "they" pronouns

I worry a little that this book will lead to kids asking people "What are your words?", which won't make sense to anyone who hasn't read this book. But I do appreciate teaching kids to ask rather than assume.

Ari also uses very embodied language when talking about the feeling of trying on words that don't fit. Which I like as a way of encouraging kids to check in with their bodies about what does or does not feel right for them.

This book models a variety of pronouns, and I appreciate that the non-binary characters have a variety of gender presentations -- not just the current popular image of androgyny. It also honors the fact that sometimes the words we want people to use for use change frequently, and aren't even always immediately clear to ourselves.

Other diversity notes: There's a wheelchair user and also someone with a prosthetic foot. And a friend of a friend pointed out the predominance of traditionally Jewish names (our protagonist Ari, Ari's uncle Lior, Ari's sister Rachel).

Payden's Pronoun Party written by Blue Jaryn & illustrated by Xochitl Cornejo (2022, Page Street Publishing Company) -- both author and illustrator use they/them pronouns

This book reminds me of What Are Your Words? A Book About Pronouns but the narrative of this one feels more ... organic?

It's a Wild World written by S. Bear Bergman (a trans man) & illustrated by kd diamond (2019, Flamingo Rampant)

A fun, quick-moving story highlighting lots of queer animals at child-appropriate level.

Bonus: our diverse set of child protagonists also does some normalizing/solutioning around anxiety.

non-binary

Stacey's Not a Girl written by Colt Keo-Meier & illustrated by Jesse Yang (2017) -- the author is a trans man, and the back cover indicates: "Elements of this story come from each transgender man who contributed to this book, loved ones, and fellow community members."

trans-masculine kid who may or may not be non-binary, and not-knowing is OKAY ♥

This book is very much About being non-binary, but I think it pulls it off pretty well. And it includes a lot of information in a way that feels really child-appropriate, in addition to not feeling Too Teachy.

The Great Space Adventure written by Ryka Aoki (a Japanese American trans woman) & illustrated by Cai Steele (2019, Flamingo Rampant)

an Asian kid who contains multitudes goes on a fantastic journey

Nande likes their long hair and their short hair. "Nande liked to twirl and be big. Nande liked to hide and be small."

People are constantly asking Nande "Why?" but the Moon never does -- and the Moon is changeable like Nande. "The Moon would be dark, then crescent, grow full, then back again. On some nights, the moon seemed almost still. On others, the moon would wander across the sky."

I already loved this book for that metaphor.

We then follow Nande and the Moon on a journey to visit various planets -- which are personified in various different racial/gender configurations (one even uses a wheelchair!), and each of whom has a personality element in common with Nande.

Timid by Harry Woodgate (2022, little bee books) -- Author-illustrator uses they/them pronouns.

A light-skinned kid (they/them pronouns) named Timmy who loves performing ... until there's an audience! This book is a delight (including the illustrations, and Timmy's new friend Nia).

How Are You, Verity? written by Meghan Wilson Duff & illustrated by Taylor Barron (2023, Magination Press) -- Author uses they/them pronouns. Illustrator uses she/her pronouns.

An autistic Black kid (they/them pronouns) named Verity who loves sea life and struggles some with social scripts.

trans-masc

When Aidan Became a Brother written by Kyle Lukoff (a trans man) & illustrated by Kaylani Juanita (2019, Lee & Low)

Aidan is a (brown) trans boy, and he wants to make sure everything is perfect for his new sibling-to-be; MY HEART!

Call Me Max (Max and Friends #1) written by Kyle Lukoff (a trans man) & illustrated by Luciano Lozano (2019, Reycraft Books)

This book is such a delight! It starts off Educational, but quickly pivots to education-by-way-of-narrative in a way that I think works well. It hits all the major points in a way that feels organic to our protagonist child's school experience and doesn't feel like just checking off boxes. There's conflict, but just enough to move the story along, and honestly I appreciate stories about trans kids where everyone is basically supportive. It's such good modeling for trans kids of how things can be, and for everyone else about how to do the right thing.

Max is white, but his two closest friends are brown and also gender non-conforming. Max's trans-ness is much more incidental in the next two books, but his [Black, male] friend Steven's penchant for wearing fancy dresses etc. comes up a lot in the next book, Max and the Talent Show. Gender non-conformity does not equal trans, so I'm mostly not including the "princess boy/sparkle boy" vein of books in this list, but I did want to mention this book while I was glossing the other books in this series.

I'm Not a Girl: A Transgender Story written by Maddox Lyons and Jessica Verdi & illustrated by Dana Simpson (2020, Roaring Brook Press) -- A 12-year-old trans boy (Maddox) wrote this book (with assistance from an adult co-author), and the illustrator is a trans woman.

A fairly straightforward story about a trans boy trying to tell his parents he's really a boy.

Hannah (our protagonist) doesn't have anyone malicious in his life -- his parents just don't pick up on his rejection of girl things. (We also get an example of how pervasive certain gender norms are, when Hannah picks out a pirate costume and his mother then purchases the "girl" pirate costume, rather than the traditional boy-coded pirate costume Hannah had picked out.)

While the book follows Hannah's frustration, it doesn't dwell in the pain such that I think it would be difficult for a trans kid to read. There are some really poignant moments, though. Like at one point Hannah is out playing in the snow, and his dad tells him to put on his (pink) jacket, and Hannah narrates: "I flop down into the snow and make another angel. I'd rather be cold and wet than not be me."

Hannah eventually meets a couple of kids who introduce him to the term "transgender" (they have a transgender cousin). It hadn't occurred to me until I started reading GR reviews that it matters that this book uses the term "transgender" explicitly. It gives trans kids additional language for themselves and also normalizes the term for all child readers.

If You're a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist written by Gavin Grimm and Kyle Lukoff & illustrated by J Yang (2022, Katherine Tegen Books) -- both authors are trans men; illustrator is a queer Asian-American

You may have encountered some of the news stories about Gavin Grimm. I wasn't sure how this would translate to a picture book for a wide audience, but this book really works well.

If I were really trying to do a micro-library, I would probably include these two stories of Black trans boys in supportive communities, because that feels valuable (they're both written by parents about their sons' experiences) even though I was only meh on them.

• Calvin written by J.R. Ford and Vanessa Ford & illustrated by Kayla Harren (2021, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers)
• Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope written by Jodie Patterson & illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow (2021, Crown Books for Young Readers)

trans-fem

Rachel's Christmas Boat by Sophie Labelle (2017, Flamingo Rampant) -- author/illustrator is a trans woman

This is a sweet story. Lulu's dad has recently come out as a woman and changed her name, and Lulu is worried that Santa won't find out in time to fix the name on the tags of the Christmas presents.

I was occasionally braced for someone to respond negatively to the news of Lulu's dad's transition, but it was nice to get to be in a story where that doesn't happen. (My partner also noted that the text never deadnames Lulu's dad. The name is clearly there -- you see it in the illustrations -- but the text/you never say it out loud.)

My Rainbow written by Trinity Neal (an autistic Black trans girl) and Deshanna Neal (her mom) & illustrated by Art Twink (2020, Penguin Random House)

Based on the authors' own experience, Trinity is an autistic Black trans girl who wants long hair but has sensory sensitivities. This book covers a lot, but also has a clear narrative throughline, and doesn't feel like too much.

The Adventures of Tulip, Birthday Wish Fairy written by S. Bear Bergman (a trans man) & illustrated by Suzy Malik (2012, Flamingo Rampant)

Tulip receives a Birthday Wish from a trans kid, and I didn't love that Tulip is initially confused, but it does allow for some gentle in-story teaching as The Wish Fairy Captain very matter-of-factly (and gently, at a kid-appropriate level but not dumbing down or oversimplifying) explains -- and provides excellent modeling like, "we're going to help her. We start by calling her by the name she chose, Daniela. It shows we like her and believe in her."

My Dad Thinks I’m a Boy?!: A Trans Positive Children's Book by Sophie Labelle (2020, Jessica Kingsley Publishers) -- author is a trans woman

I appreciate how many notes this book manages to hit while still feeling fun and not Teachy.

middle grade

Magical Princess Harriet by Rabbi Leiah Moser (2018, Dag Gadol) -- I think the author is an autistic trans woman

A Jewish kid entering 7th grade learns she's a princess (which helps her figure out she's really a girl, not a boy) and nephilim are trying to take over her town. Her best friend is an autistic girl, and they make friends with a goth boy. #TagYourself Not a joke, though; I really enjoyed this book.

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff (2021, Penguin Random House) -- author is a trans man

This book is only kind of about being trans. In the Author's Note at the end of the book, Lukoff writes:

When people ask what my book is about, I say, "It's about a kid being haunted by the ghost of their dead uncle into figuring out something important." Bug never uses they/them pronouns, but I hope that if I say it quickly enough, the person I'm talking to won't really notice. If the person asks for more details, I might say that it's kind of a scary story, and also a sad story but with a mostly happy ending, and that it's about figuring out how to make friends, being who you are, and letting go of someone you love.

Because this book, of course, is a trans story. It had been out long enough by the time I read it that I knew that going in -- and in fact that's a big reason I picked it up in the first place. I appreciated reading it knowing that Bug would figure out by the end that he's a trans boy, but I understand Lukoff not necessarily wanting to rob readers of the experience of figuring it out on their own as they read. (Certainly I generally avoid spoilers.)

Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff (2022, Dial/Penguin Random House) -- author is a trans man

I loved this book so much! A non-binary kid shows up at our 6th-grade protagonist Annabelle's small school, and blows open her world in a lot of disruptive, but exciting ways. A lot of educating happens in the book, but it feels really organic. The epilogue-y bit didn't really work for me, but the overall happy ending did (I know some reviewers felt like it was too fast/easy, but it generally felt earned to me).

Dear Mothman by Robin Gow (2023, Abrams) -- author's bio says, "He is an out and proud autistic bisexual genderqueer person passionate about LGBTQIA+ issues. [...] Robin prefers the pronouns it, fae, and he but all pronouns except for “she/her” are alright."

This reminded me of Kyle Lukoff's 2021 MG novel Too Bright to See (see above), but sadder.

Noah is grieving. and trans. and autistic. Each of those things shapes him, but none of them is the totality of who he is.

young adult

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (2020, Macmillan) -- author is non-binary, queer Latinx

My friend Sophia's friend billed it to them as: "trans boy tries to prove to his family that he's a boy by doing the boy magic of summoning a ghost -- but he summons the wrong ghost, and oh no he's cute"

The book is, in fact, a delight.

The Witch King (2021) and The Fae Keeper (2022) by H.E. Edgmon (Inkyard Press) -- author uses he/they pronouns, per the book jacket, and is Seminole.

YA fantasy duology

Wyatt, our protagonist, is a witch who was betrothed to a fae prince. He ran away from the fae kingdom for Reasons and transitioned. Emyr, the fae prince, comes looking for him, insisting they need to get married for Reasons. Emyr totally rolls with the fact that Wyatt is a guy, and Wyatt is hella gay (in general, and for Emyr specifically).

Issues of being trans come up, and there are some instances of transphobia, but mostly it's about colonization and other stuff. I think the books do a good job of engaging with the reality of being trans while not making that the focus of the book.

Lucy, Uncensored by Mel & Teghan Hammond (2024, Alfred A. Knopf) -- authors are sisters; Mel is cis, Teghan is trans (she/they)

Lucy (trans) and her best friend Callie (cis) are theater kids and seniors in high school. Lucy is already fully out as trans, but looking ahead to college, she wonders about the possibility of a fresh start -- where everyone would see her as a woman first and she could disclose her trans status later, at her own choice. The book covers various tensions around that question of disclosure, as well as various big and small instances of transphobia -- including the tensions at historically women's colleges (a topic close to my heart!). There's a lot of joy, and plenty of stuff that's not About Being Trans.

adult

non-fiction

Trans Allyship Workbook: Building Skills to Support Trans People in Our Lives by Davey Shlasko (Revised, updated and expanded for 2017; Think Again Training) -- author is trans

This has a lot more reading text than I was expecting from something billed as a "workbook," but it's solid. Chapter 4, on pronouns, is the most obvious reason to recommend/read this book.

Fucking Trans Women (Issue #0) by Mira Bellwether -- (2010) ebook/PDF of an 80-page zine by a trans woman (may her memory be a blessing/fuck cancer [x])

I'm bummed the future issues (with writings from other people) never got made, but this is still pretty great. The "soft bodies" essay is so relevant for everyone, not just trans women and the people who fuck them. Also, I learned a fun new way to fuck people who have inguinal canals.

Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano (2007/2016/2024, Seal Press/Hachette)

I said in 2021: "Okay, I haven't read the second edition yet (and I read the first edition back in like 2008? 2013?), but I remember it being good." In March 2023 (during the #TransRightsReadathon) I started reading the second edition -- which turns out to be basically the first edition with an added Preface. (It's definitely somewhat dated/limited.) I got about a hundred pages in before putting it on hiatus. Then in April 2024, I learned she had come out with a 3rd edition (with a new Afterword on the current anti-trans backlash). I bought the new edition but haven't read it yet.

The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective by Joy Ladin (2018, Brandeis University Press) -- author is a Jewish trans woman

I think Ladin's perspective on reading texts from a trans perspective is really interesting even if you aren't interested in these particular texts. She's not asserting that these characters are trans, but that they share experiences in common with many trans folks. As examples, one reviewer lists: "How did Abraham’s rejection of his responsibilities as Terach’s firstborn son, or Jacob’s claiming of his brother’s birthright, impact how they related to those around them, and to their culture’s understanding of masculinity? Can we explore the tension of the Golden Calf incident as arising from the Israelites’ discomfort with a God who refused to be embodied in a way that made them comfortable?"

[memoir] Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock (2014, Simon & Schuster) -- author is a Black, mixed-race trans woman

When I read this book in 2014, I felt familiar with trans narratives, but I hadn't thought a lot about how trans adolescents navigate their worlds, and that section of the book gave me a greater understanding of what social transition entails. The section about sex work also really helped me internalize more fully the fact that some women have penises.

I also wrote at the time:

As someone who spends a lot of time around people who are at the edge of contemporary language/thinking around gender, I appreciated how up-to-date her language feels. At the same time, it's mostly not super-obviously a teaching book -- except for the high school chapter (chapter 11), which is full of advice to adults, which feels appropriate. (At bookclub, someone raised the issue of how Grownup Janet is always explaining the story, and I think it's true that the adult voice -- the voice of someone who has done a lot of maturing and learning since many of the events of the book -- provides some distancing to the narrative.)

[sequential art] Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing (2022, Liveright/W.W. Norton) -- author uses they/them pronouns

I read this for a library book club and initially felt like I wasn't gonna learn anything new from it, but I ended up getting pretty into it. There are ways in which I liked this better than Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer: A Memoir (2019, Turtleback Books -- author uses e/em pronouns). Possibly because this is about gender generally (instead of various aspects of Kobabe's identity)? Possibly because this includes a variety of perspectives and that felt more educational to me?

[non-fiction/memoir] Hijab Butch Blues by Lamya H. (2023, Dial Press) -- author name is a pseudonym, she/they pronouns

This had been on my TBR for a while, so I started reading it after my partner started listening to it on audiobook (I didn't know the author had been on Gender Reveal) -- "a memoir in which I retell stories from the Quran as queer brown immigrant narratives alongside stories from my queer brown immigrant life."

[memoir] It Gets Better... Except When It Gets Worse: And Other Unsolicited Truths I Wish Someone Had Told Me by Nicole Maines (2024, PenguinRandomHouse) -- author is a white trans woman

I had put a library hold on this approximately for the title alone after I saw it on a BookRiot Our Queerest Shelves "The 10 Biggest and Buzziest New Queer Books Out in Fall 2024," in large part because I feel like queer (esp trans) memoirs are dictated to have to be So Inspiring.

Despite the warning, this book is fucking fun. (In contrast to Elliot Page's memoir Pageboy [2023, Flatiron Books], which I read shortly before it for a bookclub and which had so much more trauma than I was expecting -- abuse, self-harm, restricted eating, etc. on top of queer- and trans-phobia.) Maines doesn't coddle the reader, and the subject matter isn't all light, but her narrative voice really carries you through (shout-out to her ghostwriter, who I appreciate she explicitly thanks in the Acknowledgements at the end, though I have since returned my library copy and didn't write down the ghostwriter's name 😭 edit: the ghostwriter's name is Mya Spalter).

poetry

A Place Called No Homeland by Kai Cheng Thom (2017, Arsenal Pulp Press) -- author is a queer Asian-Canadian trans femme

note that there are definitely dark themes in many of these poems (sexual assault and gendered and racialized violence)

fiction

[short story collection] A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett (2014, Topside Press -- since reissued by Arsenal Pulp Press in 2023) -- author is a Canadian trans woman

The back cover blurb says, "Eleven unique short stories that stretch from a rural Canadian Mennonite town to a hipster gay bar in Brooklyn, featuring young trans women stumbling through loss, sex, harassment, and love."

I really appreciate how much it centers trans women's voices and identities.

My partner said of the first story: "Spoilers: the story is about all the micro aggressions that trans people face when interacting with the people who knew them pre-transition, no matter how well-intentioned those people are." The stories aren't all bleak, though.

There are ways in which the characters are variations on a theme, but I didn't feel like they were repetitive. Characters sometimes show up in each other's stories, which I appreciated -- since folks exist in community.

[short story collection] A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett (2021, Arsenal Pulp Press) -- author is a Canadian trans woman

Although the protagonists in this collection are younger than the ones in A Safe Girl to Love, the characters in this collection feel more grounded in their lives.

[novel] Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (One World / Penguin Random House, 2020) -- author is a USian trans woman

I'm honestly surprised and impressed that this book got published, given its immediate opening with some potentially off-putting stuff. I hesitate to recommend it to cis people both for that reason (and there's rough stuff throughout the book) and because it's not a starter book, period. One Autostraddle review is titled, "“Detransition, Baby” Is a Book For Trans Women — The Rest of You Are Lucky to Read It."

Per the provocative title, it says some smart things about detransition, as well as a lot of other things about trans experience. It's a trans book that's really honest about a lot of the mess, that isn't catering to cis readers. The characters aren't always likable, but the multiple POVs work well to help us understand where characters are coming from, even if we don't always approve of their decisions.

One of our three protagonists, Katrina, is mixed-race (half-Chinese and half-Jewish), and the author is, I believe, white. While Katrina definitely checks other characters on their white privilege at times, I've read reviews by POCs (I'm white) which compellingly point out how this is still a very white novel (in the treatment of Katrina among other things).

[sff novel] Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (Tor / Macmillan, 2021) -- author is a Japanese-American trans woman

There are 3 (female) protagonists in this book -- 1 of whom is a young mixed-race trans girl violin prodigy (also named Katrina, it occurs to me). She experiences both micro- and macro-aggressions, but there's also a lot of joy in the story. She sometimes has to educate well-meaning cis people, but that's only a small part of the novel. There are aliens and pacts with demons and So Much Food.

post-election 2024 (starting points the fir$t)

I don't watch Election Night coverage, so I woke up Wednesday morning, checked my phone, said, "Jesus!" and got up.

Wednesday's an anchor day for my department, and it didn't occur to me to WFH, but I was aware that the moving my body of biking to work would probably be good for me.

Most of the day I felt numb and kind of tired.  I already felt like I didn't have the energy for all the stuff I wanted to be doing.  I don't wanna have to do this again -- and I have so much privilege that I was largely protected last time (and will be again), even as I know it's gonna be so much worse this time and so my engagement is even more necessary. 

A coworker reserved a conference room to have a space for queer staff over lunchtime.  I wasn't sure how much I wanted to be in groups of people.  I sat outside for a half an hour in the unreasonably warm sun and ate my lunch and then headed inside, feeling fortified by having eaten some food and gotten some sunshine.  It was a small group of people I already know and like, and it generally felt good to be there.

That night, my church hosted a dinner and worship service.  Once again, not something I felt like I needed or was actively seeking, but it felt generally good to be there.

Thursday I started reaching out to other people to check in.  Wednesday I could barely bring myself to do so, and was mostly not on social media.

It's now Friday and I'm starting to feel back to normal -- which is scary in a way, because complacency is so easy to slip into (especially since I'm so shielded by privilege).

The looming prospect of 4 more years of 2016-2020 (only turbocharged) feels so big and overwhelming.  There's been a lot about focusing on building networks/community/capacity locally -- plugging into orgs that already exist, not spreading yourself too thin (there will always be more to do than you can do).  One of the things I can do fairly consistently is give money, and I'm reminding myself to live into my belief that just giving money to people in need is valuable and often the most effective.  (Obviously systems are also important, and in the absence of the government doing that work, giving money to the private sector can often be valuable -- though pressuring the government to provide/improve services is also important in tandem.)  The Queer Exchange Boston FB group is always filled with posts asking for money, which tends to feel overwhelming to me, but I can give to one person/day.

Every time something Big happens, some folks post reminders that the Big Orgs (Planned Parenthood, ACLU, etc.) get lots of money and there are tons of local orgs that do critical work and really struggle for funding.  So in case it's helpful, I thought I'd share a list of some of the places I have recurring donations at (though some of them are definitely bigger orgs).  Building this list, it occurs to me that I should probably find at least one trans rights focused organization.

Recurring donations -- even small ones -- are so helpful to organizations to be able to plan their work/budgets.  A lot of places I give $18/month -- because of Jewish numerology (it means "life" and represents good luck and so Jews will often give gifts in multiples of 18) -- but places will appreciate even $5/month or $20/year or whatever you can give.  (Recurring donations also take the mental load off of you -- it's work you're doing that you don't have to think about -- though okay, you do need to remember to include it in your budgeting.)

abortion
[You can find lists of abortion funds on the Internet, e.g. WRRAP's -- though because that list is aimed at people seeking abortion support, it lists multiple National organizations for each state, which is less helpful if you're trying to support a local org. I know Mariame Kaba has been uplifting the Palmetto State Abortion Fund in South Carolina.]

• Kansas Abortion Fund
• Missouri Abortion Fund
• Pregnancy Justice

voting

• Fair Fight -- Stacey Abrams' Georgia-based nonprofit fighting voter suppression & protecting voting rights
• Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) -- which helps formerly incarcerated persons in Florida regain their right to vote (after Florida's Amendment 4 passed in 2018, which removed the lifetime ban on voting for most people with past felony convictions, but whose implementation has really been hampered)

Palestine

• Palestine Children's Relief Fund
• Crips for eSims for Gaza

mutual aid

• MAMAS (Mutual Aid Medford and Somerville)
• Whose Corner Is It Anyway -- "Whose Corner Is It Anyway is a Western MA mutual aid, harm reduction, political education, and organizing group led by stimulant and opioid using low-income, survival, or street-based sex workers, founded in 2017. All members are current or former low income sex working cis or trans women or gender diverse people. All members either use/have used stimulants and/or opioids, are/have been homeless, or work/ have worked outside."

other

• Massachusetts Bail Fund
• Somerville Homeless Coalition -- I really appreciate their Housing First philosophy and relational focus
• Wabanaki REACH -- Native org in Maine, I got turned on to them after watching the Dawnland documentary
• Give Directly -- direct cash transfers to people in poverty (this is a bigger org that mostly operates internationally)

picture book recs (round 10)

How has it been 6 months already?

I'm clearly still not loving a lot of books I'm reading.

Here are some solid ones:

• Wombat written & illustrated by Philip Bunting -- fun
• [board book] Latke's First Hanukkah written & illustrated by Alan Silberberg -- fun
• The Light She Feels Inside written by Gwendolyn Wallace & illustrated by Olivia Duchess -- feelings and social justice, Black girl protagonist
• There's No Such Thing as Vegetables written by Kyle Lukoff & illustrated by Andrea Tsurumi -- fun and serious and queer (teaching your kids about social constructs!)
• All About Penises: A Learning About Bodies Book and All About Vulvas and Vaginas: A Learning About Bodies Book written by Dorian Solot and Marshall Miller & illustrated by Tyler Feder

[TDOV 2024] book recs

Continuing to make this an annual thing. Even though I haven't been reading much recently :/

---

March 2021, after my partner asked me, "I’m proofing a Transgender Day of Visibility doc for someone in [a Facebook group]. Do you have particular kid or adult books you’d recommend? (And how is it that I don’t actually have any?)" I pulled a bunch of book recs and made a post. I've continued to make a list each year, which you can check out on the trans tag.

I included the publication year (and publisher), since I know queer lit can often feel dated as Discourse, language, etc. changes. I also tried to flag the identities of the authors as far as I knew, since I want to mainly center trans voices.

picturebooks

I made a whole blogpost list of picturebooks featuring protagonists who use they/them pronouns where the story isn't About Gender. Here are my favorites:

Hold that Thought! written by Bree Galbraith & illustrated by Lynn Scurfield (August 15, 2021 by Owlkids)
[Author uses she/her pronouns. Illustrator uses she/they pronouns.]

Finn (they/them) wakes up in the middle of the night with an idea. They share it with others, which helps it grow and develop. There's a brief bit near the end where a bully is dismissive of Finn's idea, which causes it to shrink dramatically -- but this is quickly resolved (arguably too quickly, in terms of the bully's redemption arc).

Timid by Harry Woodgate (June 28, 2022 by little bee books)
[Author-illustrator uses they/them pronouns.]

A light-skinned kid (they/them pronouns) named Timmy who loves performing ... until there's an audience! This book is a delight (including the illustrations, and Timmy's new friend Nia).

How Are You, Verity? written by Meghan Wilson Duff & illustrated by Taylor Barron (August 22, 2023 by Magination Press)
[Author uses they/them pronouns. Illustrator uses she/her pronouns.]

An autistic Black kid (they/them pronouns) named Verity who loves sea life and struggles some with social scripts.

middle grade

Dear Mothman by Robin Gow (2023, Abrams) -- author's bio says, "He is an out and proud autistic bisexual genderqueer person passionate about LGBTQIA+ issues. [...] Robin prefers the pronouns it, fae, and he but all pronouns except for “she/her” are alright."

This reminded me of Kyle Lukoff's 2021 MG novel Too Bright to See (listed in my 2022 TDOV list), but sadder.

Noah is grieving. and trans. and autistic. Each of those things shapes him, but none of them is the totality of who he is.

young adult

The Witch King (2021) and The Fae Keeper (2022) by H.E. Edgmon (Inkyard Press) -- author uses he/they pronouns, per the book jacket, and is Seminole.

YA fantasy duology

Wyatt, our protagonist, is a witch who was betrothed to a fae prince. He ran away from the fae kingdom for Reasons and transitioned. Emyr, the fae prince, comes looking for him, insisting they need to get married for Reasons. Emyr totally rolls with the fact that Wyatt is a guy, and Wyatt is hella gay (in general, and for Emyr specifically).

Issues of being trans come up, and there are some instances of transphobia, but mostly it's about colonization and other stuff. I think the books do a good job of engaging with the reality of being trans while not making that the focus of the book.

other

[non-fiction] Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing (2022, Liveright/W.W. Norton) -- author uses they/them pronouns

I think of this as aimed at adults but also appropriate for teens -- and many libraries in my local network have shelved it as TEEN/YA. Is this in part because it's a graphic novel? Maybe.

I read this for a library book club and initially felt like I wasn't gonna learn anything new from it, but I ended up getting pretty into it. There are ways in which I liked this better than Maia Kobabe's Gender Queer: A Memoir (2019, Turtleback Books -- author uses e/em pronouns). Possibly because this is about gender generally (instead of various aspects of Kobabe's identity)? Possibly because this includes a variety of perspectives and that felt more educational to me?

they/them picturebooks

[I did not get this finished for Trans Awareness Week in November 2023, so here, have 2 posts on Trans Day of Visibility in March 2024.]

I have appreciated the recent rise in picturebooks with a protagonist who uses they/them pronouns where the book isn't About gender, so I decided to try to pull together a full list. I only included books where the protagonist is explicitly referred to using they/them pronouns -- not books where pronouns are never used of the protagonist; or where there are multiple characters, at least one of whom uses they/them pronouns.

This list is in order of publication, starting with the oldest. Let me know if I'm missing any.

I was surpised by how many of these books were about navigating big emotions. Creativity was probably the second most common theme?

These protagonists are largely light-skinned -- though that's getting better.

I was also surprised at how many cis people are writing these books?

***

Peanut Goes for the Gold written by Jonathan Van Ness & illustrated by Gillian Reid (March 31, 2020 by HarperCollins)
[Author is nonbinary/genderqueer, and their Instagram bio says "they/he/she." Illustrator uses she/her pronouns and has a partner.]

I don't love that the protagonist is a guinea pig instead of a human -- but it's actually the only animal protagonist book on this whole list. (And yes, I know anthropormophic animals are common in kidlit. But I want minoritized kids to see themselves reflected in their actual human identites.)

We learn early on that, "Sometimes people think Peanut's weird ... but more often, friends wind up joining in the fun." Peanut decides they want to become a rhythmic gymnast, and most of the story is taken up with their enthusiastic efforts in that direction (including lots of insistent directives to those around them).

A More Graceful Shaboom written by Jacinta Bunnell & illustrated by Crystal Vielula (November 2, 2020 by PM Press)
[Author and illustrator both use she pronouns -- based on their bios on the publisher website.]

Young Harmon Jitney carries around too much stuff to fit in their pockets, so they decide they want a purse. They don't know where to get one, though. They ask their family members, but are ignored. They then try a neighbor -- who has purses, but struggles to find them (they try multiple doors in the house -- each of which has something strange behind it). They finally find the room full of purses, and Harmon selects a purse they love. They add more and more things to their purse, and the purse just gets increasingly bigger to fit them all. Also around this time, color finally starts appearing in the coloring book style illustrations.

This book is a lot.

There's casual queer rep, like Harmon's two moms (Mama Millie Mapletush and Mother Loretta).

[Harmon has short hair with a bit of a wave to it, and generally appears pale, but once they get colored in they appear to have brown skin and black hair -- as on the cover image.]

Hold that Thought! written by Bree Galbraith & illustrated by Lynn Scurfield (August 15, 2021 by Owlkids)
[Author uses she/her pronouns. Illustrator uses she/they pronouns.]

Finn wakes up in the middle of the night with an idea. They share it with others, which helps it grow and develop. There's a brief bit near the end where a bully is dismissive of Finn's idea, which causes it to shrink dramatically -- but this is quickly resolved (arguably too quickly, in terms of the bully's redemption arc).

We never learn what the protagonist's thought is -- which I know frustrated some readers, but I think in some ways it made the book stronger (since the reader then doesn't get pulled into judging the idea themself).

[Finn has light brown skin and dark shoulder-length straight hair.]

Small Knight and the Anxiety Monster by Manka Kasha (September 7, 2021 by Feiwel & Friends)
[Author-illustrator uses she pronouns, was born and raised in Russia.]

I'm a little hesitant about including this, since Small Knight's anxiety monster develops from their gender-nonconformity being not accepted, so it feels like a bit of a cheat to include it in this list of books Not About Gender, but it's true that the bulk of the story is Small Knight (and their best friend, Tiny Bear!) going on an adventure to figure out what to do about the monster.

While I didn't read it this way, the end of the story can be read as Small Knight just bottling up their anxiety inside -- which understandably upset the reviewers who read it that way.

[Protagonist is white, with dark brown hair that sticks out some -- though it's usually largely covered by their knight's helmet.]

Timid by Harry Woodgate (June 28, 2022 by little bee books)
[Author-illustrator uses they/them pronouns.]

A kid loves performing -- until they have an audience.

This book is such a delight! (And the illustrations are so good.) The ending is maybe rushed a bit, but it does include various methods for managing anxiety.

[Our protagonist (Timmy) is pale with short curly blond hair.]

Katerina Cruickshanks by Daniel Gray-Barnett (August 2, 2022 by Scribble US)
[Author uses he/him pronouns, has a husband.]

The eponymous Katerina Cruickshanks is full of energy and shenanigans -- which can be Too Much for those around them, sometimes.

The back cover blurb says, "Katerina shows us that there’s no such thing as being too much; it’s just a matter of finding the friends who will love you as you are," but I'm not sure there Is a Point, per se.

[Protagonist has light skin and long-ish dark hair.]

A Case of the Zaps written by Alex Boniello and April Lavalle & illustrated by James Kwan (August 16, 2022 by Harry N. Abrams)
[Author Alex uses he pronouns, and author April uses she pronouns. Illustrator James uses he pronouns.]

Everyone is robots -- but that's because this book is trying to be a fun way into talking about anxiety. (I wondered if all robots in this story used they/them pronouns, but our protagonist does have a Mother-Board and a Father-Board; yes, this book loves its puns/references.)

It's generally pretty solid -- though there are a couple low-key Elon Musk references I did not love :/

There are also assorted resources in the backmatter for kids struggling with anxiety.

Noodin's Perfect Day written by Ansley Simpson & illustrated by Rhael McGregor (January 25, 2022 by Flamingo Rampant)
[Author uses they/them pronouns, is Michi Saagiig Nishnaabe. Illustrator "is a queer Métis, NonBinary/Two-Spirit artist and animator" who uses they/them pronouns.]

Noodin's plan for their perfect day gets derailed.

There's a glossary (with pronunciation) in the back for the non-English words in the text, though there isn't any information about what the language is or what community Noodin is part of. (My best guess would be that it's the same as the author -- which Googling the glossary words suggests is true -- but it's a real missed opportunity to share with readers some specificity instead of just a vague sense that the characters are Indigenous.)

I appreciate representation of urban Indigenous folk. There's also casual representation of parents who live in separate houses.

[Noodin has light skin and floppy brown hair with a sideshave.]

Something Great by Jeanette Bradley (October 11, 2022 by Levine Querido)
[Author-illustrator uses she/her pronouns, has a wife.]

Quinn makes Something Great (which appears to be a milk jug on a string) and is very excited about it, but no one else around them appreciates it -- until a new kid appears.

[Quinn is light-skinned, with short brown hair that hangs over an undercut. The new kid (who never gets pronouns or a name) has darker brown skin, with black hair long enough to be in pigtails.]

Good Dream Dragon written by Jacky Davis & illustrated by Courtney Dawson (October 25, 2022 by Christy Ottaviano Books)
[Author uses she pronouns. Illustrator uses "she/her/they" per the book jacket.]

I was expecting this book to be more about how to get good dreams and fall asleep, but instead it's more of just a soothing bedtime book.

The unnamed protagonist child has two moms? In the going-to-bed scene, there appear to be 2 women in the doorway -- though only "Momma" speaks/is named.

[Protagonist has light brown skin and shoulder-length straight brown hair. One of the women in the doorway looks similar, and one has blonde hair and arguably lighter skin. The rug under the protagonist's bed is patterned in a way that suggests traditional Southwest USian designs.]

Fluffy and the Stars written by T’áncháy Redvers & illustrated by Roza Nozari (August 15, 2023 by Orca Book Publishers)
[Author uses they/them pronouns, is Dene/Métis two-spirit, belongs to Deninu K'ue First Nation in Treaty 8 territory. Illustrator uses she/her pronouns, IG bio says: "Queer Iranian Femme / Visual Artist + Writer / Based in Toronto"]
*Bookshop link since I can't actually find it on the publisher's website.

Protagonist Shay loves their dog Fluffy (and Fluffy loves them back), but eventually Fluffy gets sick and dies. While Fluffy is alive, Fluffy and Shay are good at comforting each other, and Shay draws on those lessons to help move through their grief after Fluffy's death. (I was expecting the book to be mostly about grief, but the bulk of the book takes place while Fluffy is alive and well.)

There's no explicit Indigenous coding that I was aware of, but the protagonist has tan skin and dark brown hair, which is in a braid when it's long.

How Are You, Verity? written by Meghan Wilson Duff & illustrated by Taylor Barron (August 22, 2023 by Magination Press)
[Author uses they/them pronouns. Illustrator uses she/her pronouns.]

Verity, our neurodivergent protagonist, loves marine life -- and responds enthusiastically to "How are you?" with info-dumping about what they've recently learned/are currently excited about. Until their brother suggests that this isn't what most people are seeking with this greeting -- which prompts Verity to do an experiment.

Given the blurb, I had expected the book to be more about navigating these social niceties, whereas it's mostly just Verity living their life, loving marine life. (The illustrations also do an excellent job of surrounding us with what's on Verity's mind. Also, shout-out to Verity's tank top with the rainbow infinity symbol -- a symbol many autism rights advocates use instead of the puzzle piece.)

The backmatter includes a Reader's Note at the back explaining the author's similar struggles to Verity's growing up, and then "What Is Neurodiversity?" and "Some Thoughts for People Supporting Young People."

Protagonist is dark-skinned, with long, frizzy black hair. (Author is light-skinned -- and I think so is the illustrator?)

The Kid with Big, Big Ideas written by Britney Winn Lee & illustrated by Jacob Souva (August 29, 2023 by Beaming Books)
[Author uses she pronouns. Illustrator uses he pronouns.]

This book is the third in a ~series and has some of the same struggles with meter that the first two do (and some sentences are contorted to fit the meter/rhyme), but it mostly works.

Our unnamed titular kid has lots of big ideas -- many of which are truly imaginative (e.g.: the bus ride takes so long, what if we became mermaids and swam to school?). Grown-ups dismiss them, and eventually they start making themselves small. But they get frustrated that kids aren't part of political conversations about children's issues, and their Gran encourages them.

[Protagonist is light-skinned with light-colored hair that's fairly short and has a slight curl.]

***

Bonus: easy readers

Kyle Lukoff's Mermaid Days books have a secondary character (Beaker) who causually uses they/them pronouns.
[Author is a trans man. Illustrator Kat Uno uses she pronouns. Books are published by Scholastic.]

Mermaid Vera lives in Tidal Grove, and in the second story in book 1, octo-kid Beaker has just moved into town. Another kid casually uses Beaker's pronoun in conversation in the third story in Book 1. Honestly, I believe that's the only time Beaker's pronoun comes up (since characters are mostly talking to rather than about each other), except for the "You can draw Beaker!" exercise at the end of Book 3.

1. The Sunken Ship (2022)
2. The Sea Monster (2022)
3. A New Friend (2023)

so much queer lit the first half of 2024

So, the January 4, 2024, Our Queerest Shelves BookRiot email link list included 3 LGBTQ Reads links:

• Most Anticipated Queer Adult Fiction: January-June 2024
• Most Anticipated Queer Young Adult Fiction: January-June 2024
• Most Anticipated Queer Middle Grade: January-June 2024

I opened all 3 tabs and got overwhelmed. But then the next day I started to go through them (in reverse order).

*

So much fantasy in these MG books.

Represented in these books (an incomplete list):

• Tagalog folklore
• trichotillomania
• roller derby
• autism
• a magical connection to the sea

*

[Expletive deleted], the YA list is so long. Lots of murder. Lots of fantasy, though I think less than the MG list.

This list includes (but is not limited to):

• "the first trans girl at an all-girls school" (who the cover indicates is a WoC)
• a literal cupid
• "She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister." ("Jamaican-inspired")
• a trans guy in 1812
• a Jane/Bertha reimagining of Jane Eyre
• a male dryad (a reimagining of The Secret Garden)
• the absinthe fairy is a real live "Green Faerie, trapped in this world."
• an autistic Latino
• "a queer, feminist reimagining of the Fox Maiden legend from Korean mythology" (graphic novel)
• a "fat, nerdy lesbian"
• "a bone familiar"
• "a fat, broke girl with anxiety" -- who catches feelings for a girl while playing a tabletop roleplaying game
• "a YA fantasy graphic novel that’s the political drama of Nimona meets the heartfelt romance of The Princess and the Dressmaker, but this time in a sapphic romance surrounded by a mist of magic."
• a girls only underground fight club (which reminded me I still haven't watched Bottoms)
• a "Korean-inspired Alice in Wonderland retelling"
• a trans guy who "accidentally becomes an animal shelter volunteer under an assumed name―and it’s there among the unconditional acceptance of dogs that he finally receives the affirmation he’s been longing for."
• a queerceañera
• a motorcycle girl and a car girl bond over the Fast & Furious films

There are also 2 books with drag plotlines -- one with a male character and one with a female one.

picture book recs (round 9)

Okay, back to a 6-month rhythm! (And back to not reading/loving a lot of picturebooks -- but hey, you get a blurb about each book.)

• Weather Together by Jessie Sima -- not necessarily my favorite of the Kelp and Nimbus books, but a nice story about ~depression and friendship
• The Good Hair Day written by Christian Trimmer & illustrated by J Yang -- a boy who wants long hair but struggles to tell his parents, despite having positive role models
• The Wishing Flower written by A.J. Irving & illustrated by Kip Alizadeh -- a girl with a crush on another girl!
• Big written by & illustrated by Vashti Harrison -- protagonist is a fat Black girl. being Big is praised for kids ("you're such a big kid!") up to a point, and this book powerfully highlights that tension.
• Every Body: A Celebration of Diverse Abilities photography by Shelley Rotner -- really thorough and diverse representation in photographs and text of various disabilities (including learning/intellectual disabilities, as well as physical disabilities) that acknowledges difference directly and matter-of-factly; I have some quibbles with the Glossary, but it's generally good enough
• Timid written & illustrated by Harry Woodgate -- a light-skinned kid (they/them pronouns) named Timmy who loves performing ... until there's an audience. this book is so fun! (though the ending is arguably a bit rushed)
• Hold That Thought! written by Bree Galbraith & illustrated by Lynn Scurfield -- brown-skinned Finn (they/them pronouns) has an idea -- which gets bigger and more colorful as they share it with others
• How Are You, Verity? written by Meghan Wilson Duff & illustrated by Taylor Barron -- an autistic Black kid (they/them pronouns) named Verity who loves sea life and struggles some with social scripts
• I Just Want to Be Super written by Andrew Katz & illustrated by Tony Luzano -- the author wrote about his process: "What did it feel like to be bursting with energy? To want to blast into action, like a superhero raring to use their powers, only to have everyone always telling you to hold back that impulse?"
• [board book] My Hair Is Like the Sun written by St. Clair Detrick-Jules & illustrated by Tabitha Brown -- photographs of Black kids paired with simple illustrations of the natural world
• Big Bad Wolf’s Yom Kippur written by David Sherrin & illustrated by Martín Morón -- even Big Bad Wolves can repent and change!

sapphic soccer books

Someone I follow on GoodReads entered a GR Giveaway for a sapphic soccer book coming out later this year -- which is different from the sapphic soccer book I saw on a recent Autostraddle list of "81 Queer and Feminist Books Coming Your Way Summer 2023." They're both World Cup books, and it occurred to me that this timing is maybe because the World Cup is this summer.

So I started looking for other sapphic soccer books -- and there aren't a lot, but I did find some sapphic/lesbian book review lists, which generated a bunch more (many of them ebooks). I haven't read any of them, so can't personally vouch for quality.

Blockquotes are official blurbs.

Asterisks indicate World Cup themed books.

***

First, books that have 2 active soccer players in relationship with each other:

Defensive Mindset by Wendy Temple (April 2017, epub, Ylva Publishing) -- seen via The Lesbian Review

Star footballer and successful businesswoman Jessie Grainger has her life set, and doesn’t need anything getting in the way. That includes rebellious rival player Fran Docherty, a burnt-out barmaid with a past as messed up as her attitude. So when the clashing pair find themselves on the same Edinburgh women’s football team, how will they survive each other, let alone play to win?

Top of Her Game by M. Ullrich (October 1, 2019, epub, Bold Strokes Books) -- seen via Lez Review Books

Kenzie Shaw is the most sought-after rookie in women’s major league soccer, but her life changes forever when she’s drafted in her home state of New Jersey. After all, it’s not every day you get a chance to play alongside your idol and the woman you’ve crushed on for years.

Sutton Flores has soccer in her blood. Her father raised her to play, her brothers pushed her even harder, and her coaches shaped her into a superstar athlete. Despite her success, Sutton never lost sight of what matters most—her family, friends, and the woman she’s dating—even if most of her relationships fizzle out as quickly as they start.

Kenzie and Sutton’s chemistry as teammates quickly escalates to undeniable attraction off the field, but when allegations of sexual harassment rock the team and their relationship, they must decide if they’re willing to sacrifice their dreams for love. Are they destined to last, or are they players in a game set to lose?

One Small Step by M.A. Binfield (December 1, 2019, Bold Strokes Books) -- seen via Lez Review Books

Where love is concerned, the smallest steps are often the hardest to take—especially when you’ve guarded your heart as carefully as Iris Miller has. Still bruised from a relationship that crashed and burned, and all the meaningless hookups that followed, Iris has given up on love and buttoned her feelings up tight.

But when Cameron Hansen joins Iris’s law firm and her soccer team, and even starts hanging out in her favorite bookstore, everything gets turned upside down. Beautiful, open, and forward, Cam is impossible to ignore, and Iris is surprised to find herself intrigued. Cam’s straight, happily engaged, and simply looking for a friend—or so it seems.

London’s bitterly cold winter makes winning their soccer championship almost as difficult as keeping their feelings in check, being honest with each other, and trying not to fall in love. Iris and Cam are about to discover the meaning of taking chances and following your heart, even if it means getting hurt.

Endgame by Zoe Reed (April 25, 2020, Independently published through Amazon)

Audrey Caplan knew what she wanted. It was simple, really: get the spot as captain of her college soccer team, and focus on school. That was it, and with her aptitude for structure and discipline, it'd be easy to ignore distractions. At least it would've been if Morgan Bailey hadn't shown up. If there was one thing Audrey's bulletproof restraint wasn't prepared for, it was an annoying, adorable show-off with a heart of gold.

Under the Lights by Kate Christie (Book 6 in the Girls of Summer Series; July 2021) -- seen via Lez Review Books

6th book in a series that follows the same couple -- starting with when they meet as high schoolers at a soccer tournament in Southern California, moving through the NWSL and the World Cup and beyond.

Book one: Training Ground
* Book two: Game Time
* Book three: Outside the Lines
* Book four: The Road to Canada
* Book five: Girls of Summer

Hotshot by Clare Lydon (April 13, 2023, published through Amazon)

After US soccer sensation Sloane Patterson moves to the UK to play for the Salchester Rovers, her life starts to unravel. "Retired footballer Ella Carmichael has found her dream job. She has been hired as the Salchester Rovers club performance and lifestyle coach." Sloane falls for Ella. [Ella is a retired "Retired footballer Ella Carmichael has found her dream job. She has been hired as the Salchester Rovers club performance and lifestyle coach. "]

Sloane Patterson is the ultimate hotshot: a US soccer sensation whose arrival in the UK causes quite the stir. She’s got the game, the fame, the looks, the fiancée. But looks can be deceiving.

When Sloane’s life starts to unravel, Salchester Rovers’ new hire, Ella Carmichael, helps her pick up the pieces. But as the lines between their professional and personal lives blur, tensions surface. Now, Sloane’s goal of helping the team win the league and FA Cup has a significant addition: win Ella’s heart.

* Onside Play by Liz Rain (July 2023, epub, Ylva Publishing) -- this is the one from Autostraddle

In this lesbian romance, two rival players from the U.S. and Australia who are ex-girlfriends from college meet again at the World Cup. Will they rekindle their romance and will their relationship survive the tournament, depending on which team wins?

* Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner (September 19, 2023 by St. Martin's Griffin) -- This is one someone entered a giveaway for.

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?

***

And books where at most one member of the relationship is an active soccer player:

The Set Piece by Catherine Lane (July 4, 2015 by Ylva Publishing) -- seen via The Lesbian Review

"A lesbian’s plan to pose as the fake wife for a famous gay ASL [American Soccer League] player goes awry when she falls for his pretty assistant in this lesbian sports romance."

* The Princess Deception by Nell Stark (May 1, 2018, Bold Strokes Books) -- seen via The Lesbian Review

In this contemporary take on Shakespeare's Twelfith Night, Crown Prince of Belgium Sebastian's twin sister Viola disguises herself as him for Reasons while they're getting ready to launch Belgium’s campaign to host the FIFA World Cup.

Retired (due to injury) pro soccer player cum sports journalist Missy Duke is covering the World Cup bid and figures out that it's Viola in disguise but feigns ignorance. But then sparks develop between Duke and Viola-as-Sebastian...

Game Changers by Jane Cuthbertson (2019, epub, Launch Point Press) -- seen via The Lesbian Review

An older woman (Rachel Johnston, age 52) and a younger soccer player (Jaye Stokes) fall for each other.

The Lesbian Review writes, "Because this book is like a love letter to the game, each match felt thrilling. I think it was because I was watching the matches through Rachel’s enthusiastic eyes. Perhaps Cuthbertson wrote these scenes understanding not every reader knows the ins and outs of professional soccer, and she toned down the technical jargon so that the matches would be exciting for everyone."

Content note: Rachel struggles with depression.

Never Mine by Bryce Oakley (May 14, 2021, independently published) -- seen via The Lesbian Review

An injured soccer star (Sage Carson) and an event coordinator (Willa Bellamy) reconnect at their 15-year high school reunuion and decide to stage a fake relationship for reasons but fall for each other for real.

The Game Changer by Finley Chuva (November 1, 2022, Pink Ampersand/Smashwords) -- seen via The Lesbian Review

The Game Changer is a friends-to-lovers sapphic romance featuring an autistic sports gay, a nerdy bi disaster, and an unapologetically queer supporting cast. It is the first book in the Denver Defiant series.

*Note: This is an #ownvoices work by an autistic author.

picture book recs (round 8)

Okay, it's been two and a half years since my last recs post (Dec 2020), and I have managed to force myself to finish a post.

My reading has definitely gone down since my capacity for everything went down in the pandemic. Most of what I've been reading has been recommended to me by someone, so I'm not sure how much my standards are high/different vs. I'm just burnt-out (I brefly got really enthused about some books in late December 2021/early January 2022, but then slipped back) that I haven't been excited to rec a lot of books myself. Though I've definitely gotten excited about some picturebooks in 2023, so *shrug emoji*.

board books:

• My Hair Is Beautiful written by & illustrated by Shauntay Grant [photographs of Black baby girl hairstyles]
• The Colors of Tet: Màu của Tết written by Ha Huyen & illustrated by Huyen Van -- Vietnamese & English book about Vietnamese Lunar New Year
• A Is for Anemone: A First West Coast Alphabet written & illustrated by Roy Henry Vickers [Tsimshian, Haida, and Heiltsuk] and Robert Budd -- beautiful
• I don't love the "We Are Little Feminists" board books, but I appreciate what they're doing.
• The Animals of Chinese New Year = 中国农历新年动物生肖 written by Jen Sookfong Lee & translated by Kileasa Che Wan Wong.
• Being You: A First Conversation about Gender words by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli & art by Anne/Andy Passchier
• A Is for Artichoke: A Foodie Alphabet from Artichoke to Zest written by America's Test Kitchen Kids & illustrated by Maddie Frost
• [explicity fat-positive, anti-BMI, etc.] Every Body: A First Conversation About Bodies written by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli & illustrated by Tequitia Andrews (I read this in reguar picturebok, but it's also available in board book.)

queer/gender picturebooks:

• My Dad Thinks I’m a Boy?!: A Trans Positive Children's Book by Sophie Labelle
• Pride Puppy written by Robin Stevenson & illustrated by Julie McLaughlin
• Fred Gets Dressed by Peter Brown -- Betsy Bird rightly notes that this isn't really about being trans, but I appreciate its normalization of gender-non-conformity
• Love, Violet written by Charlotte Sullivan Wild & illustrated by Charlene Chua -- elementary school girls in lurve!
• [available in board book and picture book] Being You: A First Conversation about Gender words by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli & art by Anne/Andy Passchier
• If You're a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist written by Gavin Grimm and Kyle Lukoff & illustrated by J Yang -- I had worried this would be targeted only at trans kid readers, but it does a good job connecting trans experience
• Payden's Pronoun Party written by Blue Jaryn & illustrated by Xochitl Cornejo
• Bathe the Cat written by Alice B. McGinty & illustrated by David Roberts -- not ABOUT being queer, just casually has 2 dads in a mixed-race family, but also it has great casual queer representation like the magnets on the fridge (trans pride flag!)
• No One Owns the Colors written by Gianna Davy & illustrated by Brenda Rodríguez -- which, per the title, is pretty broad, but also clearly opens with pushing back against the idea that "pink is for girls and blue is for boys," and is consistently applicable to gender non-conformity etc. (I also appreciate its normalization of change with the line "I'll copy the trees and I'll change with the seasons;" and I appreciate the line "there are colors we're made of and colors we choose" without any value judgments)
• And That’s Their Family! written by Kailee Coleman & illustrated by Jamie Malone -- explicitly includes poly families in its representation; and has queer rep in lots of the illustrations, not just the ones "about" queer families

other picturebooks:

• [Muslim] The Proudest Blue: A Story of Hijab and Family written by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S. K. Ali & illustrated by Hatem Aly
• [Indigenous] I Sang You Down from the Stars written by Tasha Spillett [Trinidadian-Cree] & illustrated by Michaela Goade [Tlingit] -- beautiful
• [Black people] Don't Touch My Hair written & illustrated by Sharee Miller -- love this
• Fred Gets Dressed written & illustrated by Peter Brown
• [about worry/anxiety] The Whatifs written by Emily Kilgore & illustrated by Zoe Persico
• [Persian New Year] Seven Special Somethings: A Nowruz Story written by Adib Khorram & illustrated by Zainab Faidhi 
• [India, bedtime] Goodnight Ganesha written by Nadia Salomon & illustrated by Poonam Mistry -- beautiful
• Bodies Are Cool written & illustrated by Tyler Feder
• Sunday the Sea Witch by Andrea Stein and Cayce Matteoli
• Stanley's Library written & illustrated by William Bee
• Mother God written by Teresa Kim Pecinovsky & illustrated by Khoa Le -- though I wish the Scripture Guide were included in the book itself, rather than a separate PDF on the book website
• The Twelve Days of Christmas in Texas written & illustrated by Janie Bynum
• Luminous: Living Things That Light Up the Night written & illustrated by Julia Kuo
• That Flag written by Tameka Fryer Brown & illustrated by Nikkolas Smith -- a powerful story about the contemporary legacy of the Confederate flag
• Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers? written by Junauda Petrus & illustrated by Kristen Uroda -- articulating an abolitionist vision!
• [explicity fat-positive, anti-BMI, etc.] Every Body: A First Conversation About Bodies written by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli & illustrated by Tequitia Andrews

***

Reminder to please purchase your books from independent bookstores (see, e.g., this list of Black Owned Bookstores in the United States or these lists of A[A]PI-owned bookstores from EpicReads and Libro.fm). Most will ship to you. And if there are books you can't find at your preferred indie bookstore (though most will special-order for you), you can also shop on BookShop.org -- which has an affiliate program supporting independent bookstores (I first learned about it when my local indie was closed due to pandemic).

[TDOV 2023] book recs

Continuing to (attempt to) make this an annual thing.

March 2021, after my partner asked me, "I’m proofing a Transgender Day of Visibility doc for someone in [a Facebook group]. Do you have particular kid or adult books you’d recommend? (And how is it that I don’t actually have any?)" I pulled a bunch of book recs and made a post, and have been trying to do it annually (you can check out the trans tag).

This post is definitely smaller than past years -- largely due to fatigue/burnout/etc. impacting how much reading I did, period (despite the hopeful intentions I expressed in my post last year) and also how many words I could pull together about what I read (as you can see).

I wanna say (as I did last year) that I've read most all the extant trans picturebooks at this point, but I literally have about a half a dozen on my shelf right now that I haven't had a chance to read yet. 😂 (In my defense, most of them came out in the past year or so, some of them very recently.)

I continue to include the publication year (and publisher), since I know queer lit can often feel dated as Discourse, language, etc. changes. I also tried to flag the identities of the authors as far as I knew, since I want to mainly center trans voices.

picturebooks

[general] Payden's Pronoun Party written by Blue Jaryn & illustrated by Xochitl Cornejo (2022, Page Street Publishing Company) -- both author and illustrator use they/them pronouns

This book reminds me of What Are Your Words? A Book About Pronouns but the narrative of this one feels more ... organic?

[trans masc] If You're a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist written by Gavin Grimm and Kyle Lukoff & illustrated by J Yang (2022, Katherine Tegen Books) -- both authors are trans men; illustrator is a queer Asian-American

You may have encountered some of the news stories about Gavin Grimm. I wasn't sure how this would translate to a picture book for a wide audience, but this book really works well.

middle grade

Different Kinds of Fruit by Kyle Lukoff (Dial/Penguin Random House, 2022) -- author is a trans man

I loved this book so much! A non-binary kid shows up at our 6th-grade protagonist Annabelle's small school, and blows open her world in a lot of disruptive, but exciting ways. A lot of educating happens in the book, but it feels really organic. The epilogue-y bit didn't really work for me, but the overall happy ending did (I know some reviewers felt like it was too fast/easy, but it generally felt earned to me).

adult

(Note: These are all by/about trans women. As a cis woman, I've generally been more interested in stories by/about women. Also, my partner is a trans femme/woman, so I read a lot of books with/for her.)

[short story collection] A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021) -- author is a Canadian trans woman

Although the protagonists in this collection are younger than the ones in A Safe Girl to Love, the characters in this collection feel more grounded in their lives.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters (One World / Penguin Random House, 2020) -- author is a USian trans woman

I'm honestly surprised and impressed that this book got published, given its immediate opening with some potentially off-putting stuff. I hesitate to recommend it to cis people both for that reason (and there's rough stuff throughout the book) and because it's not a starter book, period. One Autostraddle review is titled, "“Detransition, Baby” Is a Book For Trans Women — The Rest of You Are Lucky to Read It."

Per the provocative title, it says some smart things about detransition, as well as a lot of other things about trans experience. It's a trans book that's really honest about a lot of the mess, that isn't catering to cis readers. The characters aren't always likable, but the multiple POVs work well to help us understand where characters are coming from, even if we don't always approve of their decisions.

One of our three protagonists, Katrina, is mixed-race (half-Chinese and half-Jewish), and the author is, I believe, white. While Katrina definitely checks other characters on their white privilege at times, I've read reviews by POCs (I'm white) which compellingly point out how this is still a very white novel (in the treatment of Katrina among other things).

Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (Tor / Macmillan, 2021) -- author is a Japanese-American trans woman

There are 3 (female) protagonists in this book -- 1 of whom is a young mixed-race trans girl violin prodigy (also named Katrina, it occurs to me). She experiences both micro- and macro-aggressions, but there's also a lot of joy in the story. She sometimes has to educate well-meaning cis people, but that's only a small part of the novel. There are aliens and pacts with demons and So Much Food.

[TDOV 2022] book recs

So, pandemic depression meant I was late finishing this post (figuring out words to say about books is hard!). So, uh, you get 2 posts this year? The summary at the top was written last year, but I didn't finish writing words about some of the books until this year. (And lbr, this is, in fact, still very rought draft; but I didn't wanna get even further behind.)

---

Last March, after my partner asked me, "I’m proofing a Transgender Day of Visibility doc for someone in [a Facebook group]. Do you have particular kid or adult books you’d recommend? (And how is it that I don’t actually have any?)" I pulled a bunch of book recs and made this post.

I also started reading some of the back catalog on my TBR (as well as adding a lot more books to my TBR), and a year later I have another set of recs -- though honestly not as many as I had expected.

As with last time, I included the publication year (and publisher), since I know queer lit can often feel dated as Discourse, language, etc. changes. I also tried to flag the identities of the authors as far as I knew, since I want to mainly center trans voices.

I've read most all the extant trans picturebooks at this point (though there were a bunch of recent new releases and I haven't been able to get my hands on all of them yet), but there's lots of exciting stuff happening in MG/YA which I'm hoping to get to read more of this coming year (though I will also be eating up picture books as they come out) -- and maybe some of the adult books I intended to read this past year and didn't get to? 🤷🏻‍♀️🙏🏻🤞🏻📚

picturebooks: general | trans parent | trans-masc | trans-fem

middle grade | young adult | adult

picturebooks

general

What Are Your Words? A Book About Pronouns written by Katherine Locke & illustrated by Anne "Andy" Passchier (2021, Hachette) -- both author and illustrator use "they" pronouns

I worry a little that this book will lead to kids asking people "What are your words?", which won't make sense to anyone who hasn't read this book. But I do appreciate teaching kids to ask rather than assume.

Ari also uses very embodied language when talking about the feeling of trying on words that don't fit. Which I like as a way of encouraging kids to check in with their bodies about what does or does not feel right for them.

This book models a variety of pronouns, and I appreciate that the non-binary characters have a variety of gender presentations -- not just the current popular image of androgyny. It also honors the fact that sometimes the words we want people to use for use change frequently, and aren't even always immediately clear to ourselves.

Other diversity notes: There's a wheelchair user and also someone with a prosthetic foot. And a friend of a friend pointed out the predominance of traditionally Jewish names (our protagonist Ari, Ari's uncle Lior, Ari's sister Rachel).

Jamie and Bubbie: A Book About People’s Pronouns written by Afsaneh Moradian & illustrated by Maria Bogade (2020, Free Spirit Publishing) both author and illustrator use "she" pronouns and give no indication in the book bio of being not-cis

Jamie's Bubbie comes to visit and incorrectly assumes the pronouns of various people she meets. I really appreciate the modeling of a child correcting an elder, though it's a little plot-less/awkward.

I was more meh on its predecessor book: Jamie Is Jamie: A Book About Being Yourself and Playing Your Way written by Afsaneh Moradian & illustrated by Maria Bogade (2018, Free Spirit Publishing).

Being You: A First Conversation About Gender written by Megan Madison and Jessica Ralli & illustrated by Anne/Andy Passchier (2021, Rise X Penguin Workshop)

This talks about a variety of concepts in child-accessible ways. (Some reviewers think the material/topic is too advanced for the board book set, but I don't think so.) There are also questions to ask the child-reader as you go through the book.

The backmatter has more information for adult readers (which also helps).

Worth a mention, too, although the focus is not on trans characters per se, are two books about bodies that have clear representation of trans men with top surgery scars, among people of many other identities (queer and not): Bodies Are Cool by Tyler Feder (Dial Books, 2021) and the 2021 update of the originally-1986 The Bare Naked Book written by Kathy Stinson & illustrated by Melissa Cho (Annick Press).

trans parent

She's My Dad!: A Story for Children Who Have a Transgender Parent or Relative (2020) and He's My Mom!: A Story for Children Who Have a Transgender Parent or Relative (2021) written by Sarah Savage & illustrated by Joules Garcia (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)

I don't love these books, but if you're looking for something in the niche market of "picturebook for a child about a parent or other adult transitioning," they're pretty good. The books try to balance being a story about a kid who just happens to have a trans parent with also educating the reader, and it feels a little uneven, but not too bad -- and the education it's giving is pretty solid.

I have a preference for the Dad book, though that's in part because because I read it first (but only in part; it's also an objectively better book).

trans-masc

Sam! written by Dani Gabriel & illustrated by Robert Liu-Trujillo (2019, Penny Candy Books)
[The author said: "Sam! is a product of my experience as a queer, gender nonconforming person as well as a parent of a transgender child."]

There's some subtle Latinx coding, and this is maybe the only Latinx trans picturebook I've come across other than some bilingual ones with non-binary/gender-non-conforming protagonists (They Call Me Mix/Me Llaman Maestre written by Lourdes Rivas, 2018, about a non-binary person; One of a Kind, Like Me / Único Como Yo written by Laurin Mayeno, 2016, about a boy who wants to dress up as a princess; and arguably Call Me Tree/Llamame árbol written by Maya Christina Gonzalez, 2014, which is trying to be gender-free). In contrast to those books, our child protagonist here is decidedly a boy.

I'm Not a Girl: A Transgender Story written by Maddox Lyons and Jessica Verdi & illustrated by Dana Simpson (2020, Roaring Brook Press)
[A 12-year-old trans boy (Maddox) wrote this book (with assistance from an adult co-author), and the illustrator is a trans woman.]

A fairly straightforward story about a trans boy trying to tell his parents he's really a boy.

Hannah (our protagonist) doesn't have anyone malicious in his life -- his parents just don't pick up on his rejection of girl things. (We also get an example of how pervasive certain gender norms are, when Hannah picks out a pirate costume and his mother then purchases the "girl" pirate costume, rather than the traditional boy-coded pirate costume Hannah had picked out.)

While the book follows Hannah's frustration, it doesn't dwell in the pain such that I think it would be difficult for a trans kid to read. There are some really poignant moments, though. Like at one point Hannah is out playing in the snow, and his dad tells him to put on his (pink) jacket, and Hannah narrates: "I flop down into the snow and make another angel. I'd rather be cold and wet than not be me."

Hannah eventually meets a couple of kids who introduce him to the term "transgender" (they have a transgender cousin). It hadn't occurred to me until I started reading GR reviews that it matters that this book uses the term "transgender" explicitly. It gives trans kids additional language for themselves and also normalizes the term for all child readers.

I was pretty meh on Calvin written by J.R. Ford and Vanessa Ford & illustrated by Kayla Harren (2021, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers) and Born Ready: The True Story of a Boy Named Penelope written by Jodie Patterson & illustrated by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow (2021, Crown Books for Young Readers), but they're both stories of Black trans boys in supportive communities, which feels valuable. They're both written by parents about their sons' experiences.

trans-fem

My Dad Thinks I’m a Boy?!: A Trans Positive Children's Book by Sophie Labelle (2020, Jessica Kingsley Publishers) -- author is a trans woman

I appreciate how many notes this book manages to hit while still feeling fun and not Teachy.

My Sister, Daisy written by Adria Karlsson & illustrated by Linus Curci (2021, Capstone) -- writer is mother of a trans girl; author is a trans man

I was a little hesitant to read this book, because I'd rather center trans voices and trans stories, but I went to a (virtual) event with the author and illustrator, and the author talked about how when her daughter came out, they (the parents) wanted books to help the siblings, which is valid.

Although the author's family is white, the illustrator made the intentional choice to make the family in the book multi-racial, for representation reasons.

middle grade

Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff (2021, Penguin Random House) -- author is a trans man

This book is only kind of about being trans. In the Author's Note at the end of the book, Lukoff writes:

When people ask what my book is about, I say, "It's about a kid being haunted by the ghost of their dead uncle into figuring out something important." Bug never uses they/them pronouns, but I hope that if I say it quickly enough, the person I'm talking to won't really notice. If the person asks for more details, I might say that it's kind of a scary story, and also a sad story but with a mostly happy ending, and that it's about figuring out how to make friends, being who you are, and letting go of someone you love.

Because this book, of course, is a trans story. It had been out long enough by the time I read it that I knew that going in -- and in fact that's a big reason I picked it up in the first place. I appreciated reading it knowing that Bug would figure out by the end that he's a trans boy, but I understand Lukoff not necessarily wanting to rob readers of the experience of figuring it out on their own as they read. (Certainly I generally avoid spoilers.)

young adult

Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas (2020, Macmillan) -- author is non-binary, queer Latinx

My friend Sophia's friend billed it to them as: "trans boy tries to prove to his family that he's a boy by doing the boy magic of summoning a ghost -- but he summons the wrong ghost, and oh no he's cute"

The book is, in fact, a delight.

adult

[short story collection] A Safe Girl to Love by Casey Plett (2014, Topside Press) -- author is a Canadian trans woman

The back cover blurb says, "Eleven unique short stories that stretch from a rural Canadian Mennonite town to a hipster gay bar in Brooklyn, featuring young trans women stumbling through loss, sex, harassment, and love."

I really appreciate how much it centers trans women's voices and identities.

My partner said of the first story: "Spoilers: the story is about all the micro aggressions that trans people face when interacting with the people who knew them pre-transition, no matter how well-intentioned those people are." The stories aren't all bleak, though.

There are ways in which the characters are variations on a theme, but I didn't feel like they were repetitive. Characters sometimes show up in each other's stories, which I appreciated -- since folks exist in community.