I’d finally watched the documentary Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution,which featured Judy Heumann, and wanted to know more about her life and activism. She had this infectious charm that made me want to be a disability rights activist alongside her and her friends, and when I found she’d written a memoir, I had to read it.
In describing her life’s path and tenaciousness in taking on powerful institutions, she lays out a roadmap for others who need to fight for human rights like those of trans people.
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year for Nonfiction
"...an essential and engaging look at recent disability history."— Buzzfeed
One of the most influential disability rights activists in US history tells her personal story of fighting for the right to receive an education, have a job, and just be human.
A story of fighting to belong in a world that wasn’t built for all of us and of one woman’s activism—from the streets of Brooklyn and San Francisco to inside the halls of Washington—Being Heumann recounts Judy Heumann’s lifelong battle to achieve respect, acceptance, and inclusion in society.
I was looking for my next queer YA read and almost missed this one because I usually go for femme and non-binary stories. The plot of a trans kid in stealth at a new school falling in love for the first time hooked me.
Spencer had to walk the same line I’ve had to walk between living in stealth and feeling the pull to be more open and come out to the wider world. Justice’s story was equally relatable, coming from a religious family and having to fight to be himself and love who he wants to love.
Love, Simon meets Bend It Like Beckham in this feel-good contemporary romance about a trans athlete who must decide between fighting for his right to play and staying stealth.
“A sharply observant and vividly drawn debut. I loved every minute I spent in this story, and I’ve never rooted harder for a jock in my life.” – New York Times bestselling author Becky Albertalli
Fifteen-year-old Spencer Harris is a proud nerd, an awesome big brother, and a David Beckham in training. He's also transgender. After transitioning at his old school leads to a year of isolation and bullying, Spencer gets…
I can’t resist a queer femme YA story, and this one hit me so hard that I cried in joy and heartbreak.
Young lovers separated by culture and family made a Shakespearean drama that gripped me to the last word.
The world of arranged marriages, family honor, and homophobia reminded me of personal stories from friends in Vancouver. It echoed the fights that many queer people face coming out to family and being their true selves.
A timely and honest coming-of-age story that explores the complicated relationship between identity, culture, family, and love.
Seventeen-year-old Rukhsana Ali tries her hardest to live up to her conservative Muslim parents' expectations, but lately she's finding that impossible to do. She rolls her eyes when they blatantly favour her brother and saves her crop tops and makeup for parties her parents don't know about.
If she can just hold out another few months, Rukhsana will be out of her familial home and away from her parents' ever-watchful eyes at Caltech, a place where she thinks she can finally be herself.…
Based on the story of my father’s life and death, Murder of an Uncommon Man follows Janet Berg as she investigates the life and death of Daniel, found dead in a field with a shotgun. Poring over scribbled notes and emails, police reports, and his well-worn Bible, she uncovers a life that ended in one of two ways. Janet’s memoir chronicles the life and death of her father, from his youth in 1950s Saskatchewan to unraveling the mystery of his death ten years afterward.
