This list of reading resources to accompany North By Current was compiled by Veronda Pitchford of Califa Group, a non-profit library consortium, in San Francisco, California.

ADULT NON-FICTION

Anderson, Seth. LGBT Salt Lake. Charleston, South Carolina, Arcadia Publishing, 2017
LGBT Salt Lake recounts the history and survival of the LGBT community in Salt Lake City, Utah. From the early 1970s when a discernible "gay community" had emerged in Salt Lake City, laying the groundwork for future activism and institutions through the 1980s, amidst the devastation from the HIV/AIDS epidemic, marginalized communities valiantly worked to fight the disease and support each other. By the 1990s, LGBT Utahns had gained traction legally and politically with the formation of the first gay straight alliance at East High School and the election of the first openly gay person to the Utah legislature in 1998. In 2008, Salt Lake City’s transgender community became more visible in this new century that also included the community’s battle to gain marriage equality.

Bakker, Alex, et al. Others of My Kind: Transatlantic Transgender Histories. Calgary, Alberta Canada, University of Calgary Press, 2020
From the turn of the twentieth century to the 1950s, a group of transgender people on both sides of the Atlantic created communities that profoundly shaped the history and study of gender identity. By exchanging letters and pictures among themselves they established private networks of affirmation and trust, and by submitting their stories and photographs to medical journals and popular magazines they sought to educate both doctors and the public. The book draws on archives in Europe and North America to tell the story of this remarkable transatlantic transgender community. This book uncovers threads of connection between Germany, the United States, and the Netherlands to discover the people who influenced the work of authorities like Magnus Hirschfeld, Harry Benjamin, and Alfred Kinsey not only with their clinical presentations, but also with their personal relationships. Others of My Kind celebrates the faces, lives, and personal networks of those who drove twentieth-century transgender history.

Campbell Naidoo, Jamie, editor. Rainbow Family Collections: Selecting and Using Children’s Books with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Content (Children’s and Young Adult Literature Reference) by Naidoo, Jamie Campbell (2012) Hardcover. Santa Barbara, CA, ABC-CLIO, 2012
Research shows that an estimated 2 million children are being raised in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) families in the United States; that the number of same-sex couples adopting children is at an all-time high; and that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) couples raising children live in 96 percent of all counties in the United States. Today's educators and youth librarians therefore need guidance in choosing, evaluating, and selecting high-quality children's books with LGBTQ content.

Gray, Mary, et al. Queering the Countryside. Amsterdam, Netherlands, Amsterdam University Press, 2016
The rural queer experience is often hidden or ignored, and presumed to be alienating, lacking, and incomplete without connections to a gay culture that exists in urban communities elsewhere. Queering the Countryside offers the first comprehensive look at queer desires found in rural America from a genuinely multi-disciplinary perspective. This collection of original essays confronts the assumption that queer desires depend upon urban life for meaning.

Kolk, Van Bessel der, MD. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Reprint, New York, NY, Penguin Publishing Group, 2015
Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores numerous treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

Ostler, Blaire. Queer Mormon Theology: An Introduction. Newburgh, IN Common Consent Press, 2021
For most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its theology is only ever viewed through the authorized lens of Church Correlation. The book looks at the basic tenets of the religion through the eyes of a queer church member and starts with the premise that Mormon theology is inherently queer and always has been and, therefore, better suited than most religious traditions to embrace and celebrate the queerness of the individuals who, collectively, constitute the Kingdom of God.

Winfrey, Oprah, and Bruce Perry. What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing. 1st ed., New York, New York, Flatiron Books: An Oprah Book, 2021
The book offers a groundbreaking and profound shift from asking “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?” to those who are experiencing trauma. In conversation throughout the book, Oprah Winfrey and renowned brain and trauma expert Dr. Bruce Perry focus on understanding people and behavior to create a subtle but profound shift in approach to trauma, to understand the past in order to clear a path to the future—opening the door to resilience and healing in a proven, powerful way.

ADULT FICTION AND POETRY

Arafat, Zaina. You Exist Too Much: A Novel. New York, New York, Catapult, 2021
When a Palestinian American girl finally admits to her mother that she is queer, her mother’s response only intensifies a sense of shame: “You exist too much,” she tells her daughter.

Told in vignettes that flash between the United States and the Middle East—from New York to Jordan, Lebanon, and Palestine—Zaina Arafat’s debut novel traces her protagonist’s progress from blushing teen to sought-after DJ and aspiring writer.

Opening up the fantasies and desires of one young woman caught between cultural, religious, and sexual identities, You Exist Too Much is a captivating story charting two of our most intense longings—for love and a place to call home.

Binnie, Imogen. Nevada. New York, New York, Topside Press, 2014
Nevada is the darkly comedic story of Maria Griffiths, a young trans woman living in New York City and trying to stay true to her punk values while working retail. When she finds out her girlfriend has lied to her, the world she thought she'd carefully built for herself begins to unravel, and Maria sets out on a journey that will most certainly change her forever.

Darwish, Mahmoud, and Sinan Antoon. In the Presence of Absence. Translation, Brooklyn, New York, Archipelago, 2011
Poet Mahmoud Darwish delivers lyrical meditations on love, longing, Palestine, history, friendship, family, and the ongoing conversation between life and death, the poet bids himself and his readers a poignant farewell. Prose and poetry, life and death, home and exile are all sung by the poet and his other. On the threshold of im/mortality, the poet looks back at his own existence, intertwined with that of his people.

Emezi, Akwaeke. Freshwater. Reprint, New York, New York, Grove Press, 2018
Emezi’s award-winning semi-autobiographical novel is about Ada, who is an ogbanje, a spirit born in a human body is a term in Odinani (Igbo: ọ̀dị̀nànị̀) for what was thought to be an evil spirit that would deliberately plague a family with misfortune. Emezi embraces this “otherness”, neither male nor female, through the ogbanje protagonist of the novel. The poetic account of Ada’s gender transition, through the voices of spirits, offers a new vision of transgender spirituality through an African lens.

Feinberg, Leslie. Stone Butch Blues: A Novel. 3rd Printing, Alyson Books, 2004
Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg’s 1993 first novel, is widely considered in and outside the U.S. to be a groundbreaking work about the complexities of gender. Feinberg was the first theorist to advance a Marxist concept of “transgender liberation.” In Stone Butch Blues, Feinberg’s character Jess eventually stops taking hormone replacement therapy after realizing that ze prefers to live as a gender-nonconforming person, even if it means risking violence. Jess then meets and courts a trans woman, who becomes hir partner. Neither of them is legible to the cisgender, straight world around them. Throughout hir life, Feinberg stood at the vanguard of a new movement of transgender political identity and solidarity that was taking shape in the 1990s.

Léger, Tom, and Riley MacLeod. The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard (Lambda Literary Award: Transgender). Brooklyn, New York, Topside Press, 2012
Twenty-eight original stories provide differing transgender perspectives by U.S. and Canadian authors.

The collection contains stories about Yankees, Southerners, Midwesterners, and West Coasters; all colors, religions, cultures, ages, and educational levels are represented, with recurring themes of acceptance, assimilation, family ties, and the pursuit of dreams woven in and out of each story. Heroes arise from the least likely of these tales.

Machado, Carmen Maria. In the Dream House: A Memoir. Minneapolis, MN, Graywolf Press, 2020
In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado’s engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and cultural representations of psychological abuse. Tracing the full arc of a harrowing relationship with a charismatic but volatile woman, Machado struggles to make sense of how what happened to her shaped the person she was becoming.

Rosenberg, Jordy. Confessions of the Fox. New York, United States, Penguin Random House, 2019
Confessions of the Fox is a gender-defying exposé of Jack Sheppard and Edgeworth Bess who were the most notorious thieves, jailbreakers, and lovers of eighteenth-century London. The true story of their adventures is unknown; their confessions were never found until a 21st-century academic, Dr Voth, discovers a manuscript that claims to be the confessions of Jack Sheppard. Reeling from heartbreak, Dr. Voth is drawn into Jack and Bess’s tale of underworld resistance and gender transformation, it becomes clear that their fates are intertwined—and only a miracle will save them all.

Peters, Torrey. Detransition, Baby: A Novel. New York, New York, Penguin Random House, 2021
Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn’t hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.

Ames isn’t happy either. He thought transitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her.

This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can’t reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.

Rich, Adrienne. The Dream of a Common Language. New York, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1993
The Dream of a Common Language explores the contours of a woman’s heart and mind in language for everybody—language whose plainness, laughter, questions, and nobility everyone can respond to. . .

Selenite, Venus, et al. Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018
Nameless Woman, published by the Trans Women Writers Collective, is an expanded edition of An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color, which was originally published in 2016. Nameless Woman features the contributions of eleven more people, including Venus Selenite who served on the leadership team of Trans Women of Color Collective and visual artist Lucia Montero whose practice is based on archival and autobiographical materials.

Vuong, Ocean. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous: A Novel. First Edition, New York, New York, Penguin Press, 2019
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born -- a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam -- and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation.

ADULT MEMOIR

Allison, Dorothy. Two or Three Things I Know for Sure. New York, New York, Netherlands, Penguin Books, 1996
Allison takes a probing look at her family's history in this lyrical, complex memoir that explores how the gossip of one generation can become legends for the next. Illustrated with photographs from the author's personal collection, the book tells the story of the Gibson women--sisters, cousins, daughters, and aunts--and the men who loved them, often abused them, and, nonetheless, shared their destinies. With luminous clarity, Allison explores how desire surprises and what power feels like to a young girl as she confronts abuse. Steeped in the hard-won wisdom of experience, expresses the strength of her unique vision with beauty and eloquence, Allison is provocative, confrontational, and brutally honest.

Anderson, Chad. Gay Mormon Dad. Salt Lake City, Utah, Chad Anderson (Self Published), 2017
Chad Anderson grew up gay in a large Mormon family. After years of trying to conform to religious standards, which promised a cure for homosexuality, he married and had children before finally coming out of the closet. Gay Mormon Dad is his story of finally learning to love himself in a complicated world.

Black, Dustin Lance. Mama’s Boy: A Story from Our Americas. New York, New York, Penguin RandomHouse, 2019
LGBTQ activist Dustin Lance Black, Milk’s Oscar-winning playwright screenplay who also helped overturn California’s anti–gay marriage Proposition 8 shares his journey from being raised by a single mother in a conservative Mormon household outside San Antonio, Texas who, as a survivor of childhood polio, endured brutal surgeries as well as braces and crutches for life. Despite the abuse and violence of two questionably devised Mormon marriages, she imbued Lance with her inner strength and irrepressible optimism.

Clifton, Lucille. Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969–1980 (American Poets Continuum). Edition Unstated, Rochester, NY, BOA Editions Ltd., 1987
Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980 includes all of Buffalo native Lucille Clifton's first four published collections of extraordinary vibrant poetry-- Good Times, Good News About the Earth, An Ordinary Woman, and Two-Headed Woman--as well as her haunting prose memoir, Generations.

Mock, Janet. Redefining Realness: My Path To Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More. New York, New York, Atria Books (Simon & Schuster), 2014
With unflinching honesty and moving prose, Janet Mock relays her experiences of growing up young, multiracial, poor, and trans in America, with insights into the unique challenges and vulnerabilities of a marginalized and misunderstood population. Though undoubtedly an account of one woman’s quest for self at all costs, Redefining Realness is a powerful vision of possibility and self-realization, pushing us all toward greater acceptance of one another—and of ourselves—showing as never before how to be unapologetic and real.

Serano, Julia. Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Berkeley, California, Seal Press, 2016
Julia Serano, a transsexual (sic) woman whose writing reflects her background as a lesbian transgender activist and professional biologist, shares her powerful experiences and observations-both pre- and post-transition-to reveal the ways in which fear, suspicion, and dismissiveness toward femininity shape our societal attitudes toward trans women, as well as gender and sexuality as a whole.

Shraya, Vivek. I’m Afraid of Men. Toronto, Ontario Canada, Penguin Canada, 2018
Vivek Shraya, a trans artist, explores how masculinity was imposed on her as a boy and continues to haunt her as a girl--and how we might reimagine gender for the twenty-first century. Throughout her life she's endured acts of cruelty and aggression for being too feminine as a boy and not feminine enough as a girl. In order to survive childhood, she had to learn to convincingly perform masculinity. As an adult, she makes daily compromises to steel herself against everything from verbal attacks to heartbreak. Now, with raw honesty, Shraya delivers an important record of the cumulative damage caused by misogyny, homophobia, and transphobia, releasing trauma from a body that has always refused to assimilate.

YOUNG ADULT NON-FICTION

Dawson, Juno, and David Levithan. This Book Is Gay. 1st ed., Naperville, Illinois, Sourcebooks Fire, 2015
Lesbian. Gay. Bisexual. Transgender. Queer. Intersex. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who's ever dared to wonder. This book is for YOU.

This candid, funny, and uncensored exploration of sexuality and what it's like to grow up LGBTQ also includes real stories from people across the gender and sexual spectrums, not to mention hilarious illustrations.

Green, John. You Are Not Alone: Stories by Young Teens Who Have Experienced the Death of a Sibling. Portland, Oregon, Inkwater Press, 2019
Stories by young teens who have experienced the death of a sibling. Each author in this book writes with authenticity as they honor their deceased sibling. You Are Not Alone is meant to provide support to other young readers who may be grieving the death of someone they loved. John Green, the New York Times best-selling author of The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles All the Way Down, wrote the foreword to You Are Not Alone. John writes, “Warning: this book will probably make you cry. This book will also make you smile as you read about the ways people honor their lost loved ones, and the warm memories they carry on with them.”

Johnson, Angela. Looking for Red. New York, New York, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2003
Twelve-year-old Mike -- short for Michaela -- loves the ocean. The sights, sounds, and smells of her coastal home are embedded in her very soul. But Michaela loves her brother, Red, even more. Then one day Red disappears. One minute he's there, the next...gone. No warning. No time to prepare. And Mike must come to terms with that loss or risk never finding comfort in what remains of the life she and her brother once shared.

Kuklin, Susan. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out (Hardback) - Common. Somerville, MA, Candlewick, 2014
Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender identity. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken.

Lacourrege, Megan, and Joshua Wichterich. My Sibling Still: For Those Who’ve Lost a Sibling to Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Death. New York, New York, Bowker, 2019
My Sibling Still is written as a love letter from a sibling lost to miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant death to any surviving siblings. It walks through the emotions that a child and his or her family may experience following a loss while also depicting the loving presence of the deceased child in the family’s life. With gentle words and comforting pictures, this book offers a beautiful way for the entire family to remember and honor any lost little ones. My Sibling Still is accessible whether the loss happened years ago or yesterday, whether a sibling was born at the time of the loss or came afterwards. Most of all, with an affirming message of hope through suffering, it reminds us that our relationships with the little ones who have gone before us continue after death.

Lecesne, James, and Sarah Moon. The Letter Q: Queer Writers’ Notes to Their Younger Selves. Reprint, New York, New York, Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic), 2014
A collection of letters from sixty-four gay authors and illustrators writing to their younger selves.

In this anthology, sixty-three award-winning authors make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgendered people. Through stories, in pictures, with bracing honesty, these are words of love and understanding, reasons to hold on for the better future ahead. They will tell you things about your favorite authors that you never knew before. And they will tell you about yourself.

Roe, Gary. Teen Grief: Caring for the Grieving Teenage Heart (Good Grief Series). Wellborn Texas, Healing Resources Publishing, 2017
While trying to make sense of an increasingly confusing and troubled world, teens get hit, again and again, with moves, separations, divorces, rejections, substance abuse, domestic violence, sexual abuse, illness, disability, and death. Edgy, fun-loving, tech-driven, and seemingly indestructible, their souls are shaking by the gnawing questions that surface from deep inside them. Written at the request of parents, teachers, coaches, and school counselors, Teen Grief is chocked full of insight and guidance for helping teens navigate the turbulent waters of loss.

Santana McCleary, Carol, and Naomi Santana. The Day My Daddy Lost His Temper: Empowering Kids That Have Witnessed Domestic Violence (The Empowering Kids Series). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014
The Empowering Kids Series is a collection of empathically reflective stories told from the perspective of young children. These books are meant to be used by parents and mental health providers to facilitate the child’s verbalization of their feelings and experiences, thereby advancing the healing process and are aimed at validating the readers’ experiences and feelings, thereby reducing feelings of shame and isolation.

YOUNG ADULT MEMOIR

Andrews, Arin. Some Assembly Required: The Not-So-Secret Life of a Transgender Teen. New York, United States, Simon & Schuster, 2014
In this revolutionary memoir, seventeen-year-old Arin details the journey that led him to make the life-transforming decision to undergo gender reassignment as a high school junior. Arin reveals the challenges he faced as a girl, the humiliation and anger he felt after getting kicked out of his private school, and all the changes—both mental and physical—he experienced once his transition began. Arin also writes about the thrill of meeting and dating a young transgender woman named Katie Rain Hill—and the heartache that followed after they broke up. Some Assembly Required is a true coming-of-age story about knocking down obstacles and embracing family, friendship, and first love. But more than that, it is a reminder that self-acceptance does not come ready-made with a manual and spare parts. Rather, some assembly is always required.

Kobabe, Maia. Gender Queer: A Memoir. Amsterdam, Netherlands, Amsterdam University Press, 2019
This intensely cathartic autobiography of Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, charting eir journey of self-identity, a journey which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity--what it means and how to think about it.

Coles, Jay. Tyler Johnson Was Here. New York, New York, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2019
When Marvin Johnson’s twin, Tyler, goes to a party, Marvin decides to tag along to keep an eye on his brother. But what starts as harmless fun turns into a shooting, followed by a police raid. The next day, Tyler has gone missing, and it’s up to Marvin to find him. But when Tyler is found dead, a video leaked online tells an even more chilling story: Tyler has been shot and killed by a police officer. Terrified as his mother unravels and mourning a brother who is now a hashtag, Marvin must learn what justice and freedom really mean.

Tyler Johnson Was Here is a powerful and moving portrait of youth and family that speaks to the serious issues of today–from gun control to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Davis, Dana. The Voice in My Head. Toronto, Ontario Canada, Inkyard Press, 2019
For Indigo Phillips, life has always been about basking in the shadow of her identical twin, Violet—the perfectly dressed, gentle, popular sister. The only problem the girls had in their lives was the occasional chaos that came with being part of the Phillips family brood. But when Violet becomes terminally ill and plans to die on her own terms via medically assisted death, Indigo spirals into desperation in her efforts to cope. That’s when she begins to hear a mysterious voice—a voice claiming to be God. The Voice insists that if she takes Violet to a remote rock formation in the Arizona desert, her sister will live. As she deals with outrageous mishaps, a strange journey and even stranger folks along the way,

Indigo will figure out how to come to terms with her sister, her family…and the voice in her head.

CHILDREN'S NON-FICTION

Storck, Kelly, et al. The Gender Identity Workbook for Kids: A Guide to Exploring Who You Are. Oakland, California, New Harbinger Publications, 2018
No child experiences gender in a vacuum, and children don’t just transition—families do. Transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) children need validation and support on their journey toward self-discovery. Unfortunately, due to stigma and misinformation, these kids can be especially vulnerable to bullying, discrimination, and even mental health issues such as anxiety or depression. The good news is that there are steps you can take to empower your child as they explore, understand, and affirm their gender identity. Written by a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in gender-nonconforming youth, offers real tools to help your child thrive in all aspects of life guide parent and child on this important journey in their lives.

The Gender Identity Workbook for Kids offers fun, age-appropriate activities to help your child explore their identity and discover unique ways to navigate gender expression at home, in school, and with friends.

Thomas, Pat. I miss you: a first look at death. London, Wayland, 2001
This reassuring picture book explores the difficult issue of death for young children. Children's feelings and questions about this sensitive subject are looked at in a simple but realistic way. This book helps them to understand their loss and come to terms with it.

Written by a trained psychotherapist, the book includes notes for parents and teachers at the back of the book with advice for how to share this book with your child or class.

Thorn, Theresa, and Noah Grigni. It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity. Illustrated, New York, New York, Henry Holt and Co. (BYR), 2019
A picture book that introduces the concept of gender identity to the youngest reader.

Some people are boys. Some people are girls. Some people are both, neither, nor somewhere in between. This sweet, straightforward exploration of gender identity will give children a fuller understanding of themselves and others. With child-friendly language and vibrant art, It Feels Good to Be Yourself provides young readers and parents alike with the vocabulary to discuss this important topic with sensitivity.

CHILDRENS’ FICTION

Davids, Stacy, and Rachael Balsaitis. Annie’s Plaid Shirt. Miami, Florida, Upswing Press, 2015
Annie loves her plaid shirt and wears it everywhere. But one day her mom tells Annie that she must wear a dress to her uncle’s wedding. Annie protests, but her mom insists and buys her a fancy new dress anyway. Annie is miserable. She feels weird in dresses. Why can’t her mom understand? Then Annie has an idea. But will her mom agree? Annie's Plaid Shirt will inspire readers to be themselves and will touch the hearts of those who love them.

Ewert, Marcus, and Rex Ray. 10,000 Dresses. New York, New York, Triangle Square, 2008
Every night, Bailey dreams about magical dresses: dresses made of crystals and rainbows, dresses made of flowers, dresses made of windows … Unfortunately, when Bailey's awake, no one wants to hear about these beautiful dreams. Quite the contrary. "You're a BOY!" Mother and Father tell Bailey. "You shouldn't be thinking about dresses at all." Then Bailey meets Laurel, an older girl who is touched and inspired by Bailey's imagination and courage. In friendship, the two of them begin making dresses together. And Bailey's dreams come true! Marcus Ewert gives us a gorgeous picture book and a modern fairy tale about becoming the person you feel you are inside.

Holmes, Margaret, et al. A Terrible Thing Happened. Franklin, Tennessee, Dalmatian Press, 2000
A story for children who have witnessed violence or trauma. Sherman Smith saw the most terrible thing happen. At first, he tried to forget about it, but something inside him started to bother him. He felt nervous and had bad dreams. Then he met someone who helped him talk about the terrible thing and made him feel better.

Ippen, Chandra Ghosh, and Erich Peter Ippen Jr. Once I Was Very Very Scared/Una Vez Tuve Mucho Mucho Miedo. San Francisco, California, Piplo Productions, 2017
A little squirrel announces that he was once very, very, scared and finds out that he is not alone. Lots of little animals went through scary experiences, but they react in different ways. Turtle hides and gets a tummy ache, monkey clings, dog barks, and elephant doesn’t like to talk about it. They need help, and they get help from grown-ups who help them feel safe and learn ways to cope with difficult feelings.