Book Reviews By Aiden


 


Youth

10,000 Dresses is the story a child named Bailey who loves dresses and, despite being assigned male at birth, understands herself as a girl. Bailey’s story is one of dreams, friendship, and beauty. 10,000 Dresses is a great way of introducing gender-nonconformity or transgender identity to young children. The illustrations are very imaginative as well.


Teens

Luna

 


Stone Butch Blues: A Novel

As far as I am considered, Leslie Feinberg’s novel, Stone Butch Blues, is a transgender/queer classic. Leslie tells the tale of Jess Goldberg coming of age just before and during the Stonewall riots. Jess explores what it means to be a “butch” with help from mentoring elders in the queer community. Jess faces many hardships with employment, police brutality, and figuring out what gender identity and expression feels right. Ultimately, Jess finds camaraderie and tells the blunt story of our community’s past. This novel is sincere, touching, and a must read - especially for anyone who finds themselves in the grey area between butch and transgender.


Young Adults and Adults

Butch is a Noun (Arsenal Pulp Press)

S. Bear Burgman is the type of person who I would love to sit down with in a bar, or really anywhere, and ask for advice about life, love, and gender. Luckily for me and the rest of us who don’t have the time to stalk Bear or who don’t go into bars, this book is Bear’s way of passing down the gender knowledge ze has accumulated from hir elders ever since the internet and AOL chat rooms came about. Bear is an activist and a self proclaimed “gender-jammer” who tells personal stories that are funny and warm the soul of those whose experiences are similar yet rarely represented in literature. Bear reflects on what it means for hir to identify as butch while giving readers plenty of fuel to contemplate their own genders.


The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You

S. Bear Bergman is back again and as engaging as ever.  Bear writes more personal essays about gender and identity; Bear discusses the ways ze is treated by others depending on the assumptions made regarding hir gender. Bear’s personal anecdotes are relatable and cover everything from “Sea Horse Papas” and the art of masculine pregnancy to the complicated and beautiful nuances of sexuality’s intersection with gender.

 

Assume Nothing by Rebecca Swan

Swan’s photographs tell the story of multiple gender/sex identities to emphasize the complex nature of gender and its various meanings across cultures. Her subjects self-identify as: transsexual, genderqueer, eunuch, intersex, sister girl, drag king and queen, as well as other alternative gender roles in Maori and Samoan cultures. Just as Swan’s title “Assume Nothing” suggests, the collection of photographs call for viewers to question their preconceived notions surrounding gender, sex, and the interplay between the two influences in determining one’s identity. The photographs are made all the more powerful by Judith “Jack” Halberstam’s thoughtful forward and by the inclusion of Swan’s subjects’ writings about their own identities.

 


Educators

Handbook for Achieving Gender Equity Through Education

This book is action-oriented and practical for educators and policy makers who see education as a way of fighting societal gender inequality. There is a section specifically focused on supporting transgender students in the classroom, but the content outside of that chapter is also helpful in terms of thinking about the way all students - whether cisgender or transgender - benefit from a curriculum that takes gender seriously as a force impacting all students.

 

Family

 


Soon to be reviewed:

Rooster tails

Things rooster tails recommends including “kaos.

Gender Outlaws: The Next generation

Luna

Andrea Gibson - swing set. Andrew.

Kit yan

Girlyman- young James dean

Ian Harvey

Jess t. Dugan

X: a fabulous children's story (I can link the PDF)

Kate bornstein gender workbook

Good aisen drivers

(c)Maine Transgender Network, Inc., 2011

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