Transgender & Nonbinary Author Spotlight – Teen

Posted on September 8, 2021

by Joyce S

Gender is a spectrum, and we love books and authors that celebrate this truth! Enjoy this list highlighting diverse books written by authors who are transgender, non-binary, gender fluid, or experience gender in one of the many other ways that defy a simple female/male dichotomy.

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Cover of I Wish You All the Best

I Wish You All the Best
By Mason Deaver

eBook   |   eAudiobook

After coming out as nonbinary, Ben must leave home. He goes to live with a sister and her husband to finish the last year of high school.

Cover of When the Moon Was Ours

When the Moon Was Ours
By Anna-Marie McLemore

ebook

To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable. Roses grow out of Miel’s wrists, and rumors say she spilled from a water tower when she was five. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs in the trees. But can Miel and Sam overcome the Bonners? Rumored to be witches, the four beautiful sisters want Miel’s magical roses.

Cover of Cemetery Boys

Cemetery Boys
By Aiden Thomas

eBook   |   eAudiobook

Yadriel, a trans boy, summons the angry spirit of Julian, the high school bad boy. By helping Julian learn how he died, Yadriel hopes to prove himself a brujo, not a bruja, to his conservative family.

Cover of All Out

All Out
By Saundra Mitchell

eBook

Seventeen young adult authors across the queer spectrum have come together to create a collection of beautifully written, diverse historical fiction for teens. From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain. There’s also forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent, and an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene. All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.

Cover of If I Was Your Girl

If I Was Your Girl
By Meredith Russo

eBook   |   eAudiobook

Amanda Hardy only wants to fit in at her new school, but she is keeping a big secret. When she falls for Grant, guarded Amanda finds herself yearning to share with him everything about herself, including her previous life as Andrew.

Cover of Birthday

Birthday
By Meredith Russo

eBook

Six years of birthdays reveal Eric and Morgan’s destiny as they come together, drift apart, fall in love, and discover who they’re meant to be–and if they’re meant to be together.

Cover of Felix Ever After

Felix Ever After
By Kacen Callender

eBook

From Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time. Even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after. As he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix helps redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.

Cover of Girl Mans Up

Girl Mans Up
By M-E Girard

eBook   |   eAudiobook

William C. Morris Award Finalist. Best Young Adult Debut of the Year! All Pen wants is to be the kind of girl she’s always been. So why does everyone have a problem with it? Old-world parents, disintegrating friendships, and strong feelings for other girls drive Pen to see the truth—to be who she truly wants to be, she’ll have to man up.

Cover of Look Past

Look Past
By Eric Devine

The daughter of a prominent and very conservative local pastor is murdered. The killer is taunting Avery, a transgender boy, with messages claiming the murder was revenge for her relationship with Avery. The killer demands Avery repent for changing his gender identity, or he will be the next one killed.

Cover of Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teens

Falling Hard: 100 Love Poems by Teens
By Betsy Franco

This is a diverse collection of poems on love from straight, gay, lesbian, transgender, and bisexual teens, ranging in age from 13 to 18.

Cover of Dreadnought

Dreadnought
By April Daniels

eBook

An action-packed series-starter! Danny Tozer just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. Those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl. It should be the happiest time of her life, but Danny’s first weeks finally living in a body that fits her are more difficult than she could have imagined. If Danny can’t sort through the confusion of coming out and master her powers, humanity faces extinction.

Cover of Pet

Pet
By Akwaeke Emezi

eBook   |   eAudiobook

In a near-future society that claims to have eliminated all monstrous people, a creature emerges from a painting created by Jam’s mother. Pet is a hunter from another world seeking a real-life monster, and he needs Jam’s help.

Cover of Looking for Group Cover of Looking for Group

Looking for Group

By Rory Harrison
eAudiobook

As a “cancer kid,” Dylan’s only escape has been in the form of his favorite video game—World of Warcraft—and his one true friend. Now that Dylan is suddenly in remission, he wants to take Arden on a real mission: a journey to a mysterious ship in the middle of the Salton Sea. As they navigate their way west, they grapple with Arden’s father (who refuses to recognize his daughter’s true gender), Dylan’s addiction, and the messy, complicated romance fighting to blossom through the cracks of their battle-hardened hearts.

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