Transgender Day of Visibility is an annual holiday held on March 31st. It is not only a call for full equality, but a celebration of living life authentically as well as the achievements made by transgender people. This list celebrates the transgender authors in our collection. #ownvoices under the book cover means that the book has transgender characters and is written by a transgender author. Books without the hashtag are books with transgender characters written by cisgender authors.
Adult Fiction
#ownvoices
In the wake of a southeastern Nigerian mother’s discovery of her son’s body on her doorstep, a family struggles to understand the enigmatic nature of a youth shaped by disorienting blackouts, diverse friendships, and a cousin’s worldly influence.
#ownvoices
A trans woman, her detransitioned ex and his cisgender lover build an unconventional family together in the wake of heartbreak and an unplanned pregnancy.
A family reshapes their ideas about family, love, and loyalty when youngest son Claude reveals increasingly determined preferences for girls’ clothing and accessories and refuses to stay silent.
Adult Movies on Kanopy
Movies on Kanopy are free to stream with your library card. They have a nice selection of LGBTQ cinema, including an award winning section. In Kanopy, also search for “transgender” to find 78 films on the topic.
From out lesbian director Celine Sciamma, Tomboy tells the story of 10-year-old Laure (played by the amazing Zoe Heran) who moves to the suburbs and decides to pass as a boy amongst the pack of neighborhood kids. As “Mikael” she catches the attention of leader of the pack Lisa, who becomes smitten with her. At home with her parents and younger sister Jeanne, she is Laure; while hanging out with her new pals and girlfriend, she is Mikael. Finding resourceful ways to hide her true self, Laure takes advantage of her new identity, as if the end of the summer would never reveal her unsettling secret.
Imagine a world where a little boy can grow up to be the woman of his dreams, and a young girl can rise to become a leader among men. Welcome to Kumu Hina’s Hawai’i. During a momentous year in her life in modern Honolulu, Hina Wong-Kalu, a native Hawaiian mEUhC, or transgender, teacher uses traditional culture to inspire a student to claim her place as leader of the school’s all-male hula troupe. But despite her success as a teacher, Hina longs for love and a committed relationship. Will her marriage to a headstrong Tongan man fulfill her dreams?
An intimate story of a family in transition. As 19-year-old Bennett Wallace navigates sobriety, adolescence, and the evolution of his gender identity, his mother makes her own transformation from resistance to acceptance of her trans son. Along the way, both mother and son find support in their communities, reminding us that families are not only given, but chosen.
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Frameline Film Festival.
Teen Fiction
#ownvoices
In a near-future society that claims to have gotten rid of all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting seventeen-year-old Jam’s mother created, a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster.
Recommended for grades 7-10.
#ownvoices
A boy comes to terms with his identity as a mixed-race gay teen – then at university he finds his wings as a drag artist. A bold story about the power of embracing your uniqueness. Sometimes, we need to take charge, to stand up wearing pink feathers – to show ourselves to the world in bold colour.
Recommended for grades 8-12.
#ownvoices
Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of his high school’s bad boy, and agrees to help him learn how he died, thereby proving himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.
Recommended for grades 8-12.
Youth Books
#ownvoices
Eleven-year-old Celi Rivera, who is a mix of Black-Puerto Rican-Mexican Indian is uncomfortable about her approaching period, and the changes that are happening to her body; she is horrified that her mother wants to hold a traditional public moon ceremony to celebrate the occasion–until she finds out that her best friend Magda is contemplating an even more profound change of life.
Recommended for grades 4-8.
This book is compiled of portraits of true pioneers who made huge contributions, yet we unacknowledged.
The book includes Sylvia Rivera, who spearheaded the modern transgender rights movement.
Recommended for grades 4-6.
#ownvoices
Knowing herself to be a girl despite her outwardly male appearance, George is denied a female role in the class play before teaming up with a friend to reveal her true self.
Recommended for grades 4-6.
Picture Books
#ownvoices
Providing sensitive vocabulary for initiating discussions, a warmhearted, straightforward exploration of gender identity offers children a fuller understanding of themselves and others, in a compassionate story written by the mother of a transgender child and illustrated by a non-binary transgender artist.
Recommended for grades Pre-Kindergarten-2.
Aidan, a transgender boy, experiences complicated emotions as he and his parents prepare for the arrival of a new baby.
Recommended for grades Pre-Kindergarten-2.
An empowering celebration of identity, acceptance, and Hawaiian culture based on the true story of a young girl in Hawaiʻi who dreams of leading the boys-only hula troupe at her school.
Based on the true story of Ho’onani Kami, the first transgender canidate to run for statewide office in the U.S.
Recommended for grades 1-3.
This blog post was created by librarians from Park City Library with help of information found in NoveList – a database which is free with your library card. NoveList is a comprehensive reading recommendation resource.