Representation matters—so for the start of Transgender Awareness Week (and all year long), check out these terrific new picture and middle grade books from 2025 with trans protagonists. They include realistic fiction, biographies, and stories with a touch of magic—one of which is a finalist for the prestigious National Book Award!
Click images for full reviews, and visit my Database of LGBTQ Family Books to see books from previous years (and anything that’s been published after this post)!
And yes, we need more books depicting trans parents as well as trans kids; there are a few from past years (and you can filter my database to find them), but there are plenty of other stories to tell!
Picture Books
An evocative story of heritage, community, and caring for the Earth. Kit, a Black, trans, nonbinary child, dig wells for people in their community with their grandfather, drawing on ancestral knowledge.
A lively and lyrical story that reads like the reminiscences of an old friend, conveying Marsha P. Johnson’s significance and impact.
Middle Grade: Realistic Fiction and a Biography
The nuanced story of a trans, nonbinary youth’s journey to self-awareness, self-acceptance, and finding community.
A trans, nonbinary tween and the boy who could be zir future step-brother engage in a reverse-Parent Trap plan to break up their two moms.
Family Week in Provincetown has been the world’s largest gathering of real LGBTQ families for more than 40 years—and it’s about time someone used it as the setting for a kids’ novel. One co-protagonist is a trans boy.
The young readers’ edition of the Jeopardy! champion’s autobiography.
Middle Grade: A Touch of Magic
It’s worth nothing that A World Worth Saving is a finalist for the prestigious National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the second such nomination for Kyle Lukoff, whose Too Bright to See was a finalist in 2021.
A Jewish, trans boy tries to save the world from anti-trans demons in this powerful story of self-growth, transformation, and the complexity of human relationships.
A trans girl realizes she’s a witch—and has to save her mother from an evil curse. The story brings to mind classic tales from Ronald Dahl and Lemony Snicket while at the same time being sparklingly original.
A trans boy leads this immersive and creatively imagined adventure on a harsh ice world where magic holds the key to survival.
