Parrotfish by Ellen Wittlinger

(image via goodreads.com)

Citation

Wittlinger, Ellen. Parrotfish. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Print.

Awards

•       Finalist, Lambda Literary Awards, 2008
•       NYPL Books for the Teen Age list, 2008
•       Nominated: ALA Stonewall Awards, 2008
•       Advocate Top Picks for Trans YA Fiction
•       ALA Rainbow List, 2008
•        Nominated: Cybils, 2007

Annotation

Grady, a high school junior, begins to live his life openly as a transgender boy, and deals with the response of his friends, family, and community.

Booktalk

What does it mean to be a transgender teen? To go through puberty and feel like your body is changing, but not in the way you had hoped? To have to explain to everyone else what it means to be transgender when you are figuring it out yourself?


Grady has cut his hair, has a wardrobe of boy's clothes from the thrift store, and has been binding his chest with Ace bandages. Now he's ready to take the next step - asking his friends, family, and school to stop thinking of him as Angela and start calling him Grady. While his dad has no issue with the change, not everyone takes the news as well. His principal thinks it's a phase and won't change his records, his mom is avoiding him, and his best friend and her new mean girl clique are openly calling him a pervert and trying to make his life hell. 


Despite the obstacles, Grady is feeling good about his decision to be himself. What does the future hold for Grady?




*Be sure to check out the back of the book for transgender resources.

(video by pritchwitt at youtube.com)

Teen Perspective

“[It’s my favorite book] because I don't think there are enough books about transgendered people in circulation.” – Liam, 17.

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

(image via goodreads.com)

Citation

Peters, Julie Anne. Luna. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2004. Print.

Awards

•          2004 National Book Award Finalist in Young People’s Literature
•          2005 Stonewall Honor Book, awarded by the GLBTQ Round Table of the American Library Association
•          An American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults 2005
•          2005 Colorado Book Award for Young Adult Literature
•          2005 Lambda Literary Award Finalist
•          2004 Borders Original Voices Award Finalist
•          Chicago Public Library Best of the Best 2004, Books for Great Teens
•          Michigan Library Association 2005 Thumbs Up! Award Nominee
•          Rhode Island Teen Book Award 2006 Nominee
•          Missouri Gateway Book Award 2006 Nominee
•          Vermont Green Mountain Book Award 2006 Nominee
•          New York Public Library Books for the Teen-Age List 2005
•          2004 Book Sense Summer Reading List for Teens
•          An ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults

Annotation

A teenage girl helps keep her older brother’s secret – that she is a transgender girl and wants to live her life as the woman she knows herself to be.

Booktalk

Regan just wants a normal life, with a mom who stays home to be a mom, a dad that provides for the family, and a big brother that looks out for her, but that’s not what she gets. Her mom is busy with her new business, popping pills to stay awake or go to sleep. Her dad got laid off from his job and had to take part time work at Home Depot, and can’t deal with not being the breadwinner. He wants his wife and daughter at home cooking and cleaning, and his son playing sports. Meanwhile, her brother Liam regularly wakes Regan up in the middle of the night so that he can put on wigs and makeup and dresses.

That’s when he’s happiest: when he can be Luna, a true expression of the woman she knows she is inside. Regan doesn’t really understand what it means for Liam to be transgender. She knows her brother has always thought of himself as a girl, and Regan wants to support her. Regan is the only one who knows Luna, but that is about to change. Going out shopping, telling the parents, living her truth – nothing is easy when Liam becomes Luna.