In the small Mexican coastal village of El Roblito, 16-year-old Ñoño lives what seems to be an idyllic existence with his loving family. But he holds a secret. Defying gender norms, Ñoño works up the courage to tell his family he wants to live his life as a woman, a fraught decision in a country shrouded in machismo and transphobia.

Boylan, Jennifer Finney. She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders. New York : Penguin Random House, 2013.
She’s Not There was one of the first works to present trans experience from the perspective of a literary novelist, opening a door to new understanding of love, sex, gender, and identity. Boylan inspired readers to ask the same questions she asked herself: What is it that makes us---ourselves? What does it mean to be a man, or a woman? How much could my husband, or wife, change—and still be recognizable as the one I love?

Hoffman-Fox, Dara. You and Your Gender Identity: A Guide to Discovery. New York : Skyhorse Publishing, 2017.
In this groundbreaking guide, Dara Hoffman-Fox, LPC, accomplished gender therapist and thought leader whose articles, blogs, and videos have empowered thousands worldwide, helps you navigate your journey of self-discovery in three approachable stages: preparation, reflection, and exploration.

Krieger, Irwin. Helping Your Transgender Teen: A guide for parents. Berlin : Imprint, Springer, 2014.
If you are the parent of a transgender teen, this book will help you understand what your child is feeling and experiencing. Irwin Krieger is a clinical social worker with many years of experience helping transgender teens. This book brings you the insights gained from his work with these teenagers and their families. According to the author, “Today’s teens have access to a wealth of information on the internet. Teenagers who are wondering about gender identity soon find out what it means to be transgender or transsexual. Parents, on the other hand, know little about this topic. When a teenager declares he or she is transgender, parents fear that their child is confused and is choosing a life fraught with danger. I wrote this book to help parents of transgender teens gain an understanding of this complex subject.” "Helping Your Transgender Teen" begins with the basic information you and your family need. The central chapters of the book address the fears and concerns most parents of transgender teens share. The final chapters guide you through the steps you can take to discover what is best for your child. Although written for parents, this book is also useful for pediatricians, therapists, educators and others who work with teenagers and young adults. "Helping Your Transgender Teen" provides answers to many of your questions about adolescent gender identity.

Meadow, Tey. Trans Kids: Being Gendered in the Twenty-First Century. Berkley : University of California Press, 2018.
Trans Kids is a trenchant ethnographic and interview-based study of the first generation of families affirming and facilitating gender nonconformity in children. Whereas previous generations of parents sent such children for psychiatric treatment aimed at a cure, these parents agree to call their children new names, allow them to wear whatever clothing they choose, and approach the state to alter the gender designation on their passports and birth certificates. Sociologist Tey Meadow argues that these parents are negotiating gender in new and significant ways, with everyone and everything, from intimates to institutions.

Snorton, Reily. Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity. Minn. : University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
The story of Christine Jorgensen, America’s first prominent transsexual, famously narrated trans embodiment in the postwar era. Her celebrity, however, has obscured other mid-century trans narratives—ones lived by African Americans such as Lucy Hicks Anderson and James McHarris. Their erasure from trans history masks the profound ways race has figured prominently in the construction and representation of transgender subjects. In Black on Both Sides, C. Riley Snorton identifies multiple intersections between blackness and transness from the mid-nineteenth century to present-day anti-black and anti-trans legislation and violence.

Boylan, Jennifer Finney. Long Black Veil. New York: Penguin Random House, 2018.
Jennifer Finny Boylan is also the author of a few iconic memoirs dealing with gender and sexuality, including She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders. Long Black Veil begins with a tragedy that effects the lives of six friends. Later in their lives, new evidence threatens to put one of them in prison, and threatens to expose a secret that has long been kept hidden. The story deals mostly with identity and the issue of transitioning. Boylan is an expert writer, and this one won’t be what you expect it to be.

Chant, Austin. Peter Darling. North Carolina : Less Than Three Press, 2017.
The Lost Boys say that Peter Pan went back to England because of Wendy Darling, but Wendy is just an old life he left behind. Neverland is his real home. So when Peter returns to it after ten years in the real world, he’s surprised to find a Neverland that no longer seems to need him.

The only person who truly missed Peter is Captain James Hook, who is delighted to have his old rival back. But when a new war ignites between the Lost Boys and Hook’s pirates, the ensuing bloodshed becomes all too real – and Peter’s rivalry with Hook starts to blur into something far more complicated, sensual, and deadly.

Peter Darling is a queer, trans reimagining of Peter Pan.

Plett, Casey. Little Fish. Vancouver : Arsenal Pulp Press, 2018
It's the dead of winter in Winnipeg and Wendy Reimer, a thirty-year-old trans woman, feels like her life is frozen in place. When her Oma passes away Wendy receives an unexpected phone call from a distant family friend with a startling secret: Wendy's Opa (grandfather) -- a devout Mennonite farmer -- might have been transgender himself. At first she dismisses this revelation, but as Wendy's life grows increasingly volatile, she finds herself aching for the lost pieces of her Opa's truth. Can Wendy unravel the mystery of her grandfather's world and reckon with the culture that both shaped and rejected her? She's determined to try.

Wilson-Yang, Jia Qing. Small Beauty. Canada : Metonymy Press, 2016.
Small Beauty tells the story of Mei, a mixed race trans woman managing the death of her cousin, the ways she contorts to navigate racism and transphobia, and her desire for community as she takes an opportunity to leave the city and revisit a town from her family’s past, where she discovers queer family history while parsing through her own anger and trauma.

Belge, Kathy. Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens. Minneapolis : Zest Books, 2019.
Teen life is hard enough, but for teens who are LGBTQ, it can be even harder. When do you decide to come out? Will your friends accept you? And how do you meet people to date? Queer is a humorous, engaging, and honest guide that helps LGBTQ teens come out to friends and family, navigate their social life, figure out if a crush is also queer, and challenge bigotry and homophobia. Personal stories from the authors and sidebars on queer history provide relatable context. This completely revised and updated edition is a must-read for any teen who thinks they might be queer or knows someone who is.

Bertie, Alex. Trans Mission: A Quest to a Beard. New York : Little, Brown and Company, 2017
We are so strong. We fight to be ourselves. This is the real stuff--the information you won't find on TV shows or in news articles about trans people. The emotions, the practicalities, the self-doubt...the stuff they can't cram into sixty minutes and that doesn't create a provocative headline. Before he became known for his YouTube videos, Alex Bertie was an isolated, often-afraid transgender teenager looking for answers. In this revolutionary memoir and valuable resource, Alex recounts his life, struggles, and victories as a young trans man. Along the way, he provides readers with accessible, highly researched explanations of gender, sexuality, and transitions of all kinds. He explores without judgment how complicated identities can be, and how many equally authentic ways there are to be yourself and find happiness. With clarity and compassion, Alex writes as a supportive older brother for transitioning teens, their allies, their parents, and anyone looking to better understand others--and themselves.

Iantaffi, Alex. How to Explore Your Gender. London : Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2018.
This down-to-earth guide is for anybody who wants to know more about gender, from its biology, history and sociology, to how it plays a role in our relationships and interactions with family, friends, partners and strangers. It looks at practical ways people can express their own gender, and will help you to understand people whose gender might be different from your own. With activities and points for reflection throughout, this book will help people of all genders engage with gender diversity and explore the ideas in the book in relation to their own lived experiences.

Gold, Rachel. Being Emily. Tallahasse, FL : Bella Books Inc., 2012.
They say that whoever you are it’s okay, you were born that way. Those words don’t comfort Emily, because she was born Christopher and her insides know that her outsides are all wrong.

A story for anyone who has ever felt that the inside and outside don’t match and no one else will understand.

Kaye, Julia. Super Late Bloomer: My Early Days in Transition. New York: Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2017.
Instead of a traditional written diary, Julia Kaye has always turned to art as a means of self-reflection. So when she began her gender transition in 2016, she decided to use her popular webcomic, Up and Out, to process her journey and help others with similar struggles realize they weren’t alone.

Julia’s poignant, relatable comics honestly depict her personal ups and downs while dealing with the various issues involved in transitioning—from struggling with self-acceptance and challenging societal expectations, to moments of self-love and joy. Super Late Bloomer both educates and inspires, as Julia faces her difficulties head-on and commits to being wholly, authentically who she was always meant to be.

Russo, Meredith. If I Was Your Girl. New York: Flatiron Books, 2016.
The award-winning, big-hearted novel about being seen for who you really are, and a love story you can't help but root for

Alternately warm-hearted and dark-spirited, desperate and mirthful, Little Fish explores the winter of discontent in the life of one transgender woman as her past and future become irrevocably entwined.

McLemore, Anna-Marie. When the moon was ours. New York : St. Martin's Griffin, 2016.
To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrist, and rumors say that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees and for how little anyone knows about his life before he and his mother moved to town. But as odd as everyone considers Miel and Sam, even they stay away from the Bonner girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. Now they want the roses that grow from Miel’s skin, convinced that their scent can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use every secret Miel has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.

Williamson, Lisa. The Art of Being Normal. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.
David Piper has always been an outsider. His parents think he's gay. The school bully thinks he's a freak. Only his two best friends know the real truth: David wants to be a girl.

As David prepares to come out to his family and transition into life as a girl and Leo wrestles with figuring out how to deal with people who try to define him through his history, they find in each other the friendship and support they need to navigate life as transgender teens as well as the courage to decide for themselves what normal really means