Happy Transgender Parent Day! For today and any day, here are some great picture books (including a brand-new one!) and middle grade titles featuring trans parents and their kids. I wish all transgender parents a day full of love and happiness, and many more to come.
The vast majority of the books below include clearly trans parents. A couple of them include parents who aren’t conclusively trans, but could easily be read as such. I am including them for those who wish to do so. Click images or titles for details and full reviews.
I’ll also note that these books are only scratching the surface of the many types of families with trans parents and the many stories that they can tell. I hope more are published in the near future.
Picture Books
In My Daddy’s Belly, by Logan Brown (Bigger Picture Books), is a joyful book that adds to the small number of books featuring trans parents, and the even smaller number featuring pregnant transgender men. Told from the first-person perspective of a baby growing inside a daddy’s belly and then being born into a loving family, it is loosely based on the family of its author, activist and musician Logan Brown (who was featured on the cover of Glamour UK while pregnant), and his partner, drag performer and Tik-Tok star Bailey J Mills.
In The Light of You, by Biff Chaplow and Trystan Reese, illustrated by Van Binfa (Flamingo Rampant), a two-dad family (including one dad, a trans man, who is pregnant) is welcoming a new baby! Each spread shows different members of the extended family and community bringing gifts and support—but also offers questions for readers to answer themselves, such as “Who welcomed and celebrated your small person?” Told lovingly by the two authors, The Light of You is modeled after their own family, which you can read more about in Reese’s memoir/guidebook for grown-ups, How We Do Family.
In She’s My Dad!: A Story for Children Who Have a Transgender Parent or Relative, by Sarah Savage and illustrated by Joules Garcia (Jessica Kingsley Publishers), the child protagonist introduces readers to their dad, a transgender woman, and their fun and loving life together.
He’s My Mom!: A Story for Children Who Have a Transgender Parent or Relative, by the same two creators, offers a similar but appropriately adjusted story about a child with a trans man parent.
My Mommy is a He!, by Katherine Rosenblatt, illustrated by Lee Ferrel (Stirred Stories), shares a different family’s story, though similar to the above, about a boy with a trans dad who is transitioning.
My Maddy, by Gayle Pitman, illustrated by Violet Tobacco (Magination), is told as a series of reflections by a child about her nonbinary parent. While an afterward indicates that the story was inspired by an intersex parent, the main text never specifies Maddy’s identity as intersex, transgender, or anything except “neither a boy nor a girl,” allowing nonbinary parents with a range of identities to see themselves here. It might therefore be a story that feels right for some families with nonbinary transgender parents.
In Rachel’s Christmas Boat, by Sophie Labelle (Flamingo Rampant), a child whose parent has just come out as transgender cleverly solves the problem of changing the name on the parent’s Christmas gift.
Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers? by Junauda Petrus, illustrated by Kristen Uroda (Dutton), originated in the viral poem Petrus first performed after the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014. In it, she envisions a world remade, with police salaries given to grandmothers who cruise the streets in “badass” vintage automobiles, blaring “old-school jams” and offering help and hope. Two of the “grandmas” have beards, though whether they are trans men who transitioned late in life and retained the “grandma” appellation, nonbinary people who feel “grandma” fits them best, cisgender men who have taken on a grandmotherly role, or otherwise, is for readers to decide. I include it here for those who choose to see the trans grandparents (who are also parents) within.
[Updated to add: I’m adding in Little Seahorse and the Big Question, by Freddy McConnell, illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw (Puffin), at the suggestion of a commenter. Although the book has no clear queer inclusion, McConnell, whose path to parenthood was documented in the film Seahorse: The Dad Who Gave Birth, obviously had trans dads in mind when he wrote this anthropomorphic story of a single seahorse dad and kid.]
Middle Grade Fiction
Different Kinds of Fruit, by Kyle Lukoff (Dial). Newbery honoree and two-time Stonewall Award winner Lukoff here gives us the story of sixth-grader Annabelle, whose plans for a boring year are upset by a new teacher and by cool new student Bailey, who is nonbinary. Annabelle develops a crush on Bailey, but isn’t sure what this means for her own identity. Her dad is reluctant, however, to talk about anything LGBTQ related. Annabelle eventually finds out that he is a trans man who has lived a “stealth” life for many years. That’s not the only family secret, but I won’t spoil things further. Lukoff weaves a light touch of humor into a thoughtful tale about human growth, relationships, generational change in the queer community, and the intergenerational impact of bias and secrets.
In Fight + Flight, by Jules Machias (Quill Tree Books), one of the two protagonists, Avery, is pansexual and has two moms, one of whom is a trans woman. The outgoing and headstrong Avery also has hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which affects her joints and could progressively worsen. The other protagonist, Sarah, is quiet and prone to panic attacks. When an active shooter drill at the school goes wrong, each responds uncharacteristically, leading them into friendship and possibly more as they consider their responses and their futures.
Kenzie Kickstarts a Team (The Derby Daredevils Book #1), by Kit Rosewater, illustrated by Sophie Escabasse (Harry N. Abrams), tells of best friends and fifth-graders Kenzie (aka Kenzilla) and Shelly (aka Bomb Shell), who want to be roller derby stars, following in the footsteps (or wheeltracks?) of Kenzie’s mom. Also, Kenzie’s dad is a trans man, and while this isn’t a focal point, we see that Kenzie finds strength by reflecting on what he has told her about his earlier coming out.
It’s a Hit, by Arin Cole Barth and Marika Barth (Flamingo Rampant), is a sweet and earnest novel that centers on two boys approaching seventh grade as they learn to define masculinity in their own ways. Taylor, one of the two protagonists, has two moms, one cis and one trans. Taylor is sometimes gender creative in his dress and thinks he may be aromantic. The second protagonist, Wil, is a trans boy.
Middle Grade Nonfiction
She Persisted: Rachel Levine, by Lisa Bunker, illustrated by Gillian Flint (Philomel). Part of the chapter book series inspired by the number one New York Times bestseller She Persisted, by Chelsea Clinton and Alexandra Boiger, this biography of Admiral Rachel Levine is thoughtful and informative. Bunker, who is not only a writer but was one of the first few transgender people elected to a state legislature, brings both an awareness of trans identities and an understanding of politics to bear in covering Levine’s life from birth to medical school, marriage, parenthood, and her appointment as U.S. assistant secretary for health.
My Trans Parent: A User Guide for When Your Parent Transitions, by Heather Bryant (Jessica Kingsley Publishers), is a thoughtful, practical guide with lots of support and tips for anyone (especially youth) with one or more transgender parents. The author, who was in fifth grade when her parent transitioned, has gathered and synthesized stories and information from conversations with more than 30 people who have transgender parents, transgender parents themselves, and therapists and experts working with trans families. The focus is on families with parents who have transitioned after becoming parents, though there may be parts that resonate for those who were born to or adopted by post-transition parents as well.
Readers may also wish to download the free resource guide from COLAGE for People With Trans Parents.
Please also visit my Database of LGBTQ Family Books for grown-up memoirs that include trans women parents, trans men parents, and trans nonbinary parents (and to see what’s new in kids’ books with trans parents after this post).
Little Seahorse and The Big Question is another one in the picture book category: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Seahorse-Big-Question/dp/0241453380
Thank you! I wasn’t sure if it was available yet in the U.S.–it hasn’t officially been released here, but I see it’s now available on Amazon, and I’ve added it. While there’s no clear queer inclusion in it, author Freddy McConnell obviously had trans “seahorse dads” like himself in mind when he wrote it.