Transgender representation in children's literature

George

One of the books that was very popular on the course was George, by Alex Gino. This book, aimed at older primary aged children, explores the challenges that Melissa faces as a transgender girl, who the world sees as a boy.

At the beginning, Melissa wants to audition for the part of Charlotte in the school performance of Charlotte’s Web and faces ridicule from her peers and disapproval from her teachers. Luckily, she has a supportive best friend, Kelly, who helps her realise her dream. Towards the end of the story, Melissa feels able to be true to herself and is able to dress up in a skirt to visit the zoo with Kelly.

This book is perfect for this age group, because it covers the real challenges involved but it has an uplifting ending and avoids the temptation to graphically describe the pain. Interestingly, this book was originally published under the title of George, Melissa’s birth name, but the book’s author, Alex Gino, has republished the book under the title Melissa to represent the name the book’s main protagonist has chosen for herself.

Gracefully Grayson

Another book suitable for older primary aged children or children at the lower end of secondary that looks at the challenges of a transgender girl is Gracefully Grayson, by Ami Polonsky. Grayson lives in Chicago with her uncle and aunt because her parents died when she was younger.

Grayson’s mother had been happy to acknowledge her as a transgender girl, allowing her to dress as she preferred for nursery despite then being criticised by the nursery staff and other parents. Therefore, she felt very happy to be herself. However, when she moved to her new school, she struggled to make friends and fit in, but this time, in contrast to George, her teacher, who is part of the LGBTQ community, fights for Grayson to be given the opportunity to play a female role.

As a result, both Grayson and the teacher face prejudice from the wider school community. The fact that the teacher stood up for her, even losing their job, showed Grayson that it is worth fighting for the right to be who she really is.

The Other Boy

The Other Boy, by M.G.Hennessey, is aimed at slightly older children in Key Stage 3. This book looks at a transgender boy’s journey takes to be accepted by family and friends. Shane has started medical intervention to prevent him going through puberty and has moved to Los Angeles, where nobody in his school knows about his gender assigned at birth.

However, one day, Shane lets slip the name of the school he used to attend, and his secret gets out. I personally loved this book, as it gives readers a real insight into the worry and the pain Shane goes through. This drives home the prejudice that transgender children can face. 

Books for younger children

For younger children, Julian is a mermaid, by Jessica Love, is a stunningly beautiful picture book. Again, it gives the reader the message that difference should be embraced, and that children should not be afraid to be who they are. Julian is desperate to be a mermaid and his relationship with his grandmother, who supports him in this endeavour, is heart-warming. The illustrations are breath-taking, and I know that many schools have picked up on this book to address diversity within the curriculum.

Two more picture books aimed at younger children are Introducing Teddy by Jessica Walton and illustrated by Dougal MacPherson and Red – a crayon’s story by Michael Hall. The former is a lovely story about a teddy called Thomas Teddy who wants to be Tilly Teddy but who is worried that his owner will not love him anymore.

The latter is a clever use of metaphor in which a crayon labelled as red, can only draw as blue. These two picture books, along with Julian is a mermaid,  bring home the message to young children that it is ok to be different and it is important that people are true to themselves.

Improving representation

What I admire about the books discussed above is that they do not victimise their trans protagonists, these characters demonstrate the resilience and determination that they must show, but also how the support of family and friends is crucial to their journey. 

This is just a small selection of some of the wonderful books available that address the issues that transgender children and young adults face. Hopefully, this is a growing market and more books that are set in the U.K will be published soon.

Children seeing themselves represented in literature, allows them to relate to the characters and the story line but also allows all readers to open up their hearts and minds to transgender people. When there is so much mis information around this topic, greater knowledge and empathy will help transgender children navigate their way more easily in the world.