Two thoughts coming together

[conuly]

1. Kids today know way more about transgender etc. than we did when I was a kid. Seriously. Ana has transgender friends her age and it's just... not an issue. I don't think she understands when I've told her how much this was not even on the radar when I was her age.

1a. It's probably true that increased awareness and discussion of transgender issues is why more adolescents are identifying as somewhere on that spectrum than in the past, but not in a sky-is-falling, it's-so-trendy way. These are kids who would've suffered in silence before, either being deeply in the closet or not even having words for their own experience.

2. The state of publishing for kidlit and YA continues to get more diverse. However, the state of recommending books does not. People seem to default to the sort of books they read as kids, which of course heavily leans towards books their own parents and teachers read as kids. I have a general policy of only advising books published within the past 20 years, and I never recommend one book that doesn't hit some point on the diversity checklist without recommending two more that do.

3. But it's been hard for me to find books dealing with transgender issues to recommend either for kids or teens. There are some books out there now! But the negative reviews... well, okay, mostly they're what you expect, but once you skim past the haters you find a lot of the same comments over and over again:

A. The author has no personal awareness of what it's like to be transgender and boy, it shows.

B. Yes, it's true that being trans can be really sucky at times in our society, but why did everything awful have to happen to this kid? Do we really want kids thinking that you can't be trans without this litany of terrible things happening?

C. Okay, so the author got the transgender part right, which is great, but they screwed up this other issue so badly that it's hard to recommend the book.

D. I'd love to recommend this, but the writing isn't so great.

So these are potentially serious issues. Does anybody have any recommendations which maybe slipped my notice? Something to be enthusiastic about rather than "Well, but"? I'm starting to feel like this is a notable gap in my advice giving.

Comments

[sabotabby]

The only one I can think of is Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen. I wanted to love it more than I did because of the same things that make me dislike YA in general. Shitty things happen to our hero, but not because he's trans per se, more because it's a fantasy Western and shitty things happen to everyone.

[conuly]

Thanks.

[monanotlisa]

I recommend I AM JAZZ by Jazz Jennings for kids, but of course it's non-fiction.

For other good trans narratives, I will link you to my book log for 2017 I just posted: https://monanotlisa.dreamwidth.org/1623622.html#cutid1

29. to the end aren't necessarily for kids, but they're worth checking out.

I did read a YA novel by a trans writer featuring a trans girl in 2018, but I really didn't like its biphobia. :(

[conuly]

I did read a YA novel by a trans writer featuring a trans girl in 2018, but I really didn't like its biphobia.

That sort of thing seems to come up a lot. If it's not biphobia, it's a faulty portrayal of mental illness. Or race. Or whatever. Why can't we get all the things right all at once guys?

[hamsterwoman]

I've been reccing-with-reservations Not Your Sidekick and Not Your Villain by CB Lee, despite it not doing so well on your point D. The writing is... pretty flawed structurally, and one (grown up) friend bounced off how simplistic the prose is, and I appreciate what it's trying to do more than how it does it... but the trans character himself (prominent secondary in the first book, protagonist in the second) is incredibly charming, and I find that his charisma helps me get past the writing flaws. Most notably, I recommended it to my friend who has a trans son who is a young teenager, and they both really enjoyed it. It's also very committed to other kinds of diversity -- the rest of the LGBT spectrum, POCs, although not always elegantly.

[conuly]

Yeah, there are some serious pacing issues in those books, and I question the decision to start the second book with an extended flashback + recap.

Though it's definitely nice that it's a book that's not just about That One Issue.

[flexagon]

Fantasy trilogy The Bone Doll's Twin, HIdden Warrior, and The Oracle's Queen.

Totally not just about that one issue -- there's lots of necromancy, other magic, and fantasy politics. Some criticisms say that the male/female flipping in the books is "unrealistic", but the confused reactions of observers who are close friends were, in my opinion and memory, dead-on.

[isis]

For a lighter take, the Magnus Chase series by Rick Riordan has a genderfluid character.

[conuly]

That sort of representation is also important, though. I mean, it can't all be coming out stories, can it? (God, that's frustrating that it mostly does seem to be, so.)

[hannah]

George by Alex Gino is an E - the writing is good, the author knows what they're doing, the trans girl succeeds in her quest to be seen as she truly is, and it's very much for young readers. This isn't a slight. It's more to say that for someone in their early 30s to read it, as I did, I wanted there to be more to the book. At the same time, I knew if an eight or ten year old read it, they wouldn't have any such concerns.

[conuly]

Well, I mostly enjoy reading kidlit and YA, and that's what I recommend to people, so that's exactly what I want!

[sravakavarn]

Yes, I actually teach trasngender kids now. I never encountered out transgender kids even when I started teaching 10 years ago. I am SLC, which is liberal by Georgia standards, but also deep in the heart of Mormon country which is more conservative than Georgia.

[grav_ity]

This is a new website and they're still ironing some things out, but the filters are good.

http://queerbooksforteens.com/find-books/

[conuly]

Thanks.

[dhampyresa]

Rick Riordan's Magnus Chase series has Alex, a genderfluid character in it starting in book 2. Alex is pretty great, tbh.

[spikethemuffin]

There's always the classics--- Ozma of Oz, "The Princess Who Became a Man," (came to the Danish folktale via the graces of folklorist Psyche Z. Ready, not trans herself AFAIK, but darn well might write the novels you are seeking one of these days). O of O is a bit more young than adult, though, and probably feels way too dated for (snif) these modern youngsters, and well, "Princess" is a fairy tale, so pretty grimdark by nature.

I'm sure you also have run up against the fan theories that a. half of Themiscyra and Diana herself are penis-having women; b. Wolverine as a transman (which actually has a surprising number of details that support the theory)...

Sorry I didn't have more! Also sorry that Diana Wynne Jones didn't think to write trans characters, she would have been a boom! done.

[silveradept]

I just finished reading Witch Boy, which isn't an explicitly trans narrative, but does have explicitly gendered tasks and characters whose natures and souls are meant for the other gender's tasks. And it's a nice graphic novel.

[gwydion]

I put out a general call on my blogs, because more brains are better. Off the top of my head I thought of Seanan MacGuire's Wayward Children Series and Karen Healey's When We Wake and sequel, both of which have main cast trans characters and are generally diverse.

It's been ages since I looked at either of these so can't speak to the usefulness of them.

Here is a list of YA Book selections I like, since people keep asking: http://gwyd.livejournal.com/577378.html

Here is a Middle Grade LGBTQ book list: http://www.leewind.org/2009/12/glbtq-middle-grade-bookshelf.html

Here is a list of YA books with POC and LBT main characters: http://slatebreakers.com/2011/08/26/slatebreaking-books-to-diversify-your-reading/#more-397

[conuly]

Thanks.

[mme-n-b.livejournal.com]

Orlando?

Signal boost

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Here ya go, courtesy of oloriel, who posted this signal-boost:

Help an ace trans autistic person out!

Hey guys! I have sold NO books in 11 days, and I am desperately out of money, so I would really appreciate if you can reblog this post with summaries of each of my six books about queer autistic people of color! They are all $5 and my only source of income, so if you don’t want to read them – no problem – but please consider reblogging them, because this might be just the representation someone out there needs right now.

- Where the Wind Runs Down the Gap (https://www.etsy.com/listing/567905366/where-the-wind-runs-down-the-gap-a?,&zanpid=10723_1520263518_6b7aecc5f6eca64dbd4266de22d75105&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_campaign=eu_buyer&utm_content=85386): Aponivi is a changeling, blessed by the fae. He lives in a secret library within the walled city of Ore Bell, under the thumb of witch-hunting martials called The Survivors of the Woods. He lays his shoes down for hanged men, hoping his footprints will guide them home. Something inside him burns. His heartbeat is not his own.
- Haunted Houses and How to Tame Them (https://www.etsy.com/listing/584268555/haunted-houses-and-how-to-tame-them-a?,&zanpid=10723_1520243266_ef324aa343089d4d60f3aacc403aa152&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_campaign=eu_buyer&utm_content=85386): Pax works at a magical Home Depot in a world where houses are alive and people try and make them happy with constant redecorating. Magical realism modern Regency-etiquette witch story.
- Dim Light, Goodnight (https://www.etsy.com/listing/588266393/dim-light-goodnight?,&zanpid=10723_1520263588_36be7d54e8740c4cce1b04082cda6b10&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_campaign=eu_buyer&utm_content=85386): Survival horror comedy about a queer couple stuck in a straight people filled medical nightmare in Christmas 1989.
- Liminal People (https://www.etsy.com/listing/589306563/liminal-people?,&zanpid=9607_1520263721_b0a575f7c4888fd646fdc0c701b32ec5&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_campaign=it_buyer&utm_content=85386): Two gay scientists and a dog get stranded in the Alaskan wilderness in 1982 and all they do with their solitude is write Magnum P.I. fanfiction, make LSD, and try and find aliens to fuck. Oh, and also not die. They try not to die. My mom lived in the Alaskan wilderness in 1982 and she fact-checked this.
- The Star Caregiver (https://www.etsy.com/listing/578891352/the-star-caregiver-a-disabled-fantasy?ref=related-5&,&zanpid=9607_1520263712_5668f749d8859f57a639ce23dec8c174&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_campaign=it_buyer&utm_content=85386): The world exists on islands that orbit each other, and you can only jump from island to island during brief “conjunctions” where they basically crash together. Coby, a low IQ autistic agender Jewish Indian person, has decided to become independent from their caregivers and make their own life on a neighboring island, ingratiating themselves in a world of art-based magic and good friendships – both human and star.
- The View Down (https://www.etsy.com/de/listing/580507378/the-view-down-ebook?ref=related-3&%2C=&zanpid=9607_1520243269_9b1ad9986d37c4e95658e4607c9ef032&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_campaign=it_buyer&utm_content=85386): Local gay uncle does not realize his nephew’s suitors are in love with him. But seriously, this book is about gay disabled men of color falling in love in Regency England. There is no homophobia, racism, sexism, or transphobia. It is just gay Regency people of color written in an authentic Regency style.

All of them are relatively short and light on plot and happy, all designed to be read by disabled people who have a hard time reading typical books!

Please reblog if you can, thank you!

[lusentoj]

Hmm, I never found any GLBT books worth reading in American literature but I've always found a few in Japanese manga. There's various ones but probably the most like-real-life one for me is called Hourou Musuko ("Wandering Son"), it follows a ftm and mtf from elementary school into college. they meet a few adult transgender people in that one too, and one of the good things about it is they get people in various "stages" - those who've fully transitioned and those who haven't, those who decide not to transition in the end, those who are just crossdressers etc. but it's a japanese series so it's naturally a bit more "adult" at times than an american series would be.

yeah, when i was a kid i didn't even know transgenderism existed (i only knew "those bad ugly crossdresser-hookers on TV" kind of thing). 10 years ago it was still a big issue, right? but in a similar vein, when i was a kid being gay wasn't a thing other kids would really make fun of you for anymore. they just didn't care so much.

[conuly]

Worth a shot, thanks.