With trans rights under attack in the U.S. — and marriage equality edging closer to the chopping block — we owe it to ourselves as readers to do the best we can by queer and trans people of all ages. Now, more than ever, it’s time to throw our money and muscle behind queer and trans authors — particularly those who are less well known, and therefore have less career security. Here are 12 books by up-and-coming trans and nonbinary authors to support today:
And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, which appeared nine times and was the No. 1 Most Challenged Book in 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, which appeared seven times Melissa (previously published as George) by Alex Gino, which appeared five times and was the No. 1 Most Challenged Book in 2018, 2019, and 2020 The Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, which appeared five times and was the No. 1 Most Challenged Book in 2003 Drama by Raina Telgemeier, which appeared five times It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris, which appeared four times and was the No. 1 Most Challenged Book in 2005 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, which appeared four times I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel, Jazz Jennings, and Shelagh McNicholas, which appeared four times The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, which appeared four times Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin, which appeared three times Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan, which appeared three times The Gossip Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar, which appeared three times King & King by Linda de Haan, which appeared two times Sex Is a Funny Word by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth, which appeared two times This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki, which appeared two times and was the No. 1 Most Challenged Book in 2016 A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss and EG Keller, which appeared two times The Color Purple by Alice Walker, which appeared two times Uncle Bobby’s Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen, which appeared one time Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher, which appeared one time This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, which appeared one time* Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison, which appeared one time* Prince & Knight by Daniel Haack and Steve Lewis, which appeared one time All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, which appeared one time* Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, which appeared one time and was the No. 1 Most Challenged Book in 2021* My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, which appeared one time Captain Underpants and the Sensational Saga of Sir Stinks-A-Lot by Dav Pilkey, which appeared one time This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman and Kristyna Litten, which appeared one time Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie, which appeared one time
Note: Those marked with an asterisk (*) appeared for the first time in 2021. Want to check out more books by LGBTQIA+ authors? Check out this list of romance novels by trans and nonbinary authors, and look here for SFF reads from trans and nonbinary folks.
