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.)

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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.