WOW Dozen: Books Featuring Trans* and Trans*-accepting Characters
October is LGBT History Month. Established in 1994, Rodney Wilson, selected the tenth month of the year because National Coming Out Day is celebrated on October 11 and the first national march for gay and lesbian rights took place in Washington, DC on October 14, 1979. In conjunction with LGBT History Month, this dozen features picturebooks and novels with trans* and trans*- accepting characters. Unlike stories with trans* characters published in the past, the plot lines in these stories reflect a shift from shaming, resistance, violence and tragic endings to affirming, understanding, compassion and positive endings. Trans* and trans*- accepting characters experience seemingly typical life challenges connected to friendship, belonging and discovering one's identity. Additionally, in several novels the characters encounter challenges that might seem atypical like interacting with a brujo or the ghost of a deceased uncle, or hunting a monster alongside a creature that emerged from a painting. Ultimately, readers will find the characters, setting and plot lines of each story to be engaging, exciting and believable.
WOW invites you to read one, two or all of the picturebooks and novels featured this month as a way to celebrate LGBT History Month. Please consider adding the title of your own favorite story featuring trans* and trans*- accepting characters in the Leave a Reply box below. WOW would love to hear from you!
Susu struggles with losing her baby sister Jackie until she realizes that she loves her younger sibling as Jackie or as Jack.
Daisy's older brother comes to realize that Daisy is the same lovable sibling she was before she told him that she is a girl.
Red struggles to align with the color printed on his label despite the tremendous support from the other crayons until Berry asks Red to draw a blue ocean &, with the other crayons, realizes the beauty of his true identity.
Yadriel seeks his family's approval of his true identities as a trans boy & a brujo only to discover that he doesn't need anyone's approval to be himself.
Frankie & Bug share a secret that changes Bug from a self-centered teenager to a powerful advocate for her friend.
Tensions with Bug's best friend Moira, feelings of sadness at the loss of a dear uncle and dealing with a ghost that is trying to tell Bug something very important make Bug's summer break anything but fun & relaxing.
Soon-to-be high school senior Felix wants to experience true love, but instead must deal with bullying, identity struggles & a father who still uses Felix's deadname.
A young Syrian trans boy, who struggles with his mother's untimely death, discovers a journal written by a famous Syrian artist in an abandoned tenement that might help him understand his past, his present and his future.
Queer characters take center stage in this anthology of 17 historical fiction stories written by acclaimed YA authors of LGBTQIA+ literature.
Separated by an unexpected family move, two high school trans boys are determined to keep their relationship alive by corresponding with each other as two young revolutionary soldiers, Aaron & Oliver, who the high schoolers pay homage to as they believe the soldiers were trans men in love with each other.
Jam, a Black trans girl, must decide if her utopian city of Lucille is truly free of monsters as the adults have claimed after she encounters a creature that has emerged from her mother's painting & is now on the hunt for a monster of the worst kind.
Previously published as George, Alex Gino & Scholastic have retitled the novel to respect the main character, Melissa; the young trans girl who is determined to play the character of Charlotte in the fourth-grade class play, Charlotte's Web, & to share her true self with the world.
Please note: We use an asterisk after trans to denote the inclusion of all "non-cisgender, gender identities, such as agender, cross-dresser, bigender, genderfluid, gender**ck, genderless, genderqueer, non-binary, non-gendered, third gender, trans man, trans woman, transgender, transsexual, and two-spirit" (Miller, 2016, p. 308).
Reference Miller, sj (2016). Teaching, affirming, and recognizing trans and gender creative youth: A queer literacy framework. Palgrave Macmillan.
WOW Dozen features a list of 12 global books for children and adolescents around a theme, topic, issue or personal favorites. Each Dozen consists of ten newly-published titles with two older “must have” books. Please share or recommend additional books that fit the theme in the comments section or on social media using #WOWDozen. Use the printer icon in the upper left corner of this post to print or save this list as a PDF.
