Title recommendations for lesbian and trans young adult titles

I have a fairly decent YA section in the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center library, but I have a much bigger gay fiction section than lesbian or trans fiction for young adults. (This might have to do with the people donating materials to our center.) I have a "wish list" on the Center's Library web page, and would love to get some recommendations for lesbian and transgender YA titles.

Any ideas/favorites? Any titles to stay away from?

Unfortunately, the number of YA trans titles is quite small. A few (all of which are quite good): Luna, a story of coming out as MTF; Parrotfish, about a transboy after his transition; and I Am J, a FTM coming out and start-of-transition story.

Two lesbian YA novels I like are Ash by Malinda Lo and Empress of the World by Sara Ryan. Ash is a queer retelling of Cinderella, and Empress is about a summer relationship at a camp for gifted students.

I'd definitely second Luna. (Am looking forward to checking out those others--thanks, deweydenoument.)

Lois Ann Yamanaka's Name Me Nobody is an unusual lesbian YA novel with an Hawaiian setting and lots of Hawaiian dialect. Yamanaka is a very fine writer and poet who often writes in Hawaiian pidgin. I think her book would appeal to a very diverse audience.

I strongly recommend Rose of No Man's Land by Michelle Tea. It's really good on lesbian & working class issues.

You might want to join and post this question to the new Facebook Group "Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Trans YA Fiction" at: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/202283763158901/

Also, take a look at some of the titles from the Rainbow Books list of - GLBTQ Books for Children & Teens from the GLBT Roundtable of ALA and can be seen at:
http://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/

The new Stonewall Book Award category for Children’s and Young Adult Literature was won by Almost Perfect http://www.librarything.com/work/book/77020001
A young adult novel about a transgender girl—told from the perspective of the straight boy who falls for her.

For non-fiction, see Feeling wrong in your own body and Transparent : love, family, and living the T with transgender teenagers

The movie Transgeneration follows 4 college students as they prepare for gender reassignment.

I've heard good things about The Bone Doll's Twin, by Lynn Flewelling. It's a fantasy book, and while the main character is not exactly transgendered, she deals with the same effects of feeling like she's in the wrong body.

For lesbian YA fiction, I would like to second the recommendation for Malinda Lo's Ash, a fantasy retelling of Cinderella. She also has another lesbian YA fantasy novel called Huntress. I recently read Tripping to Somewhere by Kristopher Reisz, a trippy urban fantasy with a teenage lesbian protagonist. It was marketed as a YA novel, though there was a lot of drug use in it, very well written, though. I would recommend it. There is also the graphic novel series, Strangers in Paradise by Terry Moore that you might want to consider for the collection. I think it might be popular with the YA crowd.

I would be interested to hear what people think of Brian Katcher's Almost Perfect. We read it for our book group, and the reaction was very mixed. I think it would be considered a YA queer/trans title.

Checking out these titles, as I need to learn more. Youngest grandchild called a change at age three, three years ago.

I've looked at My Gender Workbook, but I think fiction will help me more.

I just listened to George, and it seems directed to the younger adolescent crowd. Listening to George refer to herself, helped me to build new brain pathways.

Anything else out there about very young transgender children?

>13 2wonderY:

Anything else out there about very young transgender children?

About, or for? There are a number of children's books out there about kids somewhere in the range of trans* / genderfluid / gender non-conforming, and I know of a couple of parents' memoirs, but I don't know of any fiction aimed at adults featuring young trans kids.

>13 2wonderY:

Good luck to your grandkid.

I don't have any book recommendations but your question reminded me of a nineties movie about a transgender little girl, Ma vie en rose (it's French but it was distributed in the US). I remember liking it but not very many details--has anyone here seen it and do you think it might be suitable to mention with the book recommendations? Seeing as there's probably not too much around...

Btw, I think it would be okay to watch for kids, but there are some very sad parts.

ETA:!!!!!!! I just noticed--it got an "R" rating in the US!!!! What the FUCK.

Anyway, it was rated "for all ages" in Europe (places I looked at in a quick skim), and apparently the American rating has been commented on (unsurprisingly) a lot:

Why is Ma Vie en Rose Rated R?

Links to reviews in many papers on that.

This really pisses me off. First, it's not like the movie played in every cinema to begin with--and then they cut off kids from seeing it.

I am jazz
Red a crayon's story (could be applied to anyone who feels different)
10,000 dresses
Gracefully grayson
Jacob's new dress

Introducing Teddy by Jessica Walton is an upcoming Australian picture book funded through Kickstarter. Beautiful illustrations.

>16 LolaWalser: I'm ready to start at the beginning myself. As I said, my exposure with George seemed to help.

>16 LolaWalser: The rating system was much more strict back in the day. I once recommended The Milagro Beanfield War film to a precocious adolescent, and her mom came and found me and asked why I was suggesting an R rated movie. Ooops. There is nothing inappropriate in that film. An out of wedlock night is implied, but it's not even a story point. The couple is having breakfast together at his house.

>17 wifilibrarian: Thanks!

>15 LolaWalser: I also have good memories of Ma vie en rose whenever and wherever I saw it (InsideOut? DVD?)

>17 wifilibrarian:

Yes, thanks.

>18 2wonderY:

Talk about embarrassing!

>19 librorumamans:

How GREAT was that kid?! It went far beyond acting. I was so moved wondering what the exposure would do to him/her, how s/he lived...

I saw it on distribution in New Orleans. I should get it on DVD.