The most recommended trans man book

Who picked these books? Meet our 22 experts.

22 authors created a book list connected to trans man, and here are their favorite trans man books.
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Book cover of Pageboy: A Memoir

Linda Griffin Author Of Beyond Stonebridge

From Linda's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Why am I passionate about this?

Author

Linda's 3 favorite reads in 2024

Linda Griffin Why did Linda love this book?

I was a fan of the actress known as Ellen Page and cheered him on when he came out, first as gay and then as transgender.

It was obvious how much happier he was when he claimed his true identity, but the long and painful journey to get there, and the continuing stress and danger in his situation are what make Pageboy by Elliott Page so heart-wrenching and ultimately triumphant.

By Elliot Page,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Pageboy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Full of intimate stories, from chasing down secret love affairs to battling body image and struggling with familial strife, Pageboy is a love letter to the power of being seen. With this evocative and lyrical debut, Elliot Page captures the universal human experience of searching for ourselves and our place in this complicated world.

'Can I kiss you?' It was two months before the world premiere of Juno, and Elliot Page was in his first ever queer bar. The hot summer air hung heavy around him as he looked at her. And then it happened. In front of everyone. Theā€¦


Book cover of Between Perfect and Real

S.M. Stevens Author Of Bit Players, Has-Been Actors and Other Posers

From my list on for tweens, teens and young adults who love theater.

Why am I passionate about this?

As a teenager, I didnā€™t have the lack of inhibition or abundant self-confidence to excel in high school drama. Like Sadie in Bit Players, I finally wowed the directors at my senior year audition, only to learn the lead was promised in advance to someone else. I recovered and stayed involved in theater: cast, crew, and front-of-house jobs for a summer theater program; the box office for Cornellā€™s MFA program; and supporting my kidsā€™ drama activities. Performing in a show is different from any other experience. If youā€™ve been in a show, you know this. If you havenā€™t, read on to enter the magical world of theatre.

S.M.'s book list on for tweens, teens and young adults who love theater

S.M. Stevens Why did S.M. love this book?

A high school production of Romeo and Juliet isnā€™t the focus of this plot, but the book still makes my shortlist. The concept of a trans guy acknowledging his gender identity after having been cast as a girl playing the boy Romeo is profound. Dean questions his gender as rehearsals progress. By showtime, he decides to use the productionā€™s program to publicly announce he is trans. Friend and parental issues arise, so thereā€™s plenty of drama on and off the stage in this one.

Theater Quotient: Medium. Gender identity is the focus, but rehearsals and performances figure prominently.

By Ray Stoeve,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Between Perfect and Real as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

A moving YA debut about a trans boy finding his voice--and himself

Dean Foster knows he's a trans guy. He's watched enough YouTube videos and done enough questioning to be sure. But everyone at his high school thinks he's a lesbian--including his girlfriend Zoe, and his theater director, who just cast him as a "nontraditional" Romeo. He wonders if maybe it would be easier to wait until college to come out. But as he plays Romeo every day in rehearsals, Dean realizes he wants everyone to see him as he really is now--not just on the stage, but everywhere inā€¦


Book cover of Female Husbands

Simon Joyce Author Of LGBT Victorians: Sexuality and Gender in the Nineteenth-Century Archives

From my list on showing that trans people have always existed.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m an academic researcher interested in this topic but also one of the people who gets demonized in conservative media: the parent of a transgender child. I want my daughter to know that similar people have existed in history and that lawmakers are wrong to claim that weā€™re in a scary new world when we advocate for respect and the rights of trans people. While doing that advocacy work, Iā€™m alarmed by positions within the LGBTQI+ movement echoing right-wing ones, including whatā€™s known as ā€œgender critical feminism.ā€ My book argues a positive case for coalition in the face of pressures to fracture along distinct lines of sexuality and gender identity. 

Simon's book list on showing that trans people have always existed

Simon Joyce Why did Simon love this book?

If youā€™re wondering in practical ways how to do trans history, Manionā€™s book is a great place to start. It takes one of the categories that preceded a transgender identity (the name typically given to people affirmed female at birth who identified as men and married women) and reimagines how eighteenth- and nineteenth-century lives might look with the benefit of the tools of our modern politics. The book is boldly inclusive, resisting deciding ahead of time how the category should be defined and who should be ruled in or out. Manion is also a role model in respecting the ambiguities of the past, mostly using neutral pronouns and offering non-judgmental speculations about what these subjects and their partners might have thought at key moments in their courageous and inspiring lives. 

By Jen Manion,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Female Husbands as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Long before people identified as transgender or lesbian, there were female husbands and the women who loved them. Female husbands - people assigned female who transed gender, lived as men, and married women - were true queer pioneers. Moving deftly from the colonial era to just before the First World War, Jen Manion uncovers the riveting and very personal stories of ordinary people who lived as men despite tremendous risk, danger, violence, and threat of punishment. Female Husbands weaves the story of their lives in relation to broader social, economic, and political developments in the United States and the Unitedā€¦


Book cover of Imji Getsul: An English Buddhist in a Tibetan Monastery

Laurence Cox Author Of The Irish Buddhist: The Forgotten Monk Who Faced Down the British Empire

From my list on Buddhism and the West.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve been a street musician, set up kindergartens, worked in special needs education, and run wood-fired showers in a field for meditation retreats. Iā€™m also associate professor of sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. I became a Buddhist partly out of interest in a very different culture and started wondering how Buddhism got from Asia to the West. I think about this through my own experience of teaching meditation, being an activist for 35 years, living in five countries, and learning ten languages: what do you have to do to make an idea come alive in a different culture? 

Laurence's book list on Buddhism and the West

Laurence Cox Why did Laurence love this book?

I find the story in Imji Getsul (ā€œEnglish Noviceā€) incredibly moving. Lobzang Jivaka (Michael Dillon) was an extraordinary human being: the first trans man to have successful genital surgery and a pioneering (anonymous) writer on the subject. Outed by the British tabloid press, this deeply private man fled to India and became a Buddhist novice. In Ladakh he insisted on overcoming his own privilege as a white gentleman, starting at the bottom of the monastic hierarchy in gruelling physical conditions (which ultimately killed him). This book is an honest, funny, and powerful account of personal change and the meeting between cultures.

By Lobzang Jivaka,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Imji Getsul as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

From the publisher: "Here is the daily life and routine of a very remote monastery on the Tibetan border. The author was a novice there, speaking the language, experiencing the discomfort and the blows and the beauty of that life. Lobzang Jivaka rejected most of the common values of Western life, to search for truth; and found it in an obscure corner of the world. This is fascinating as a work of travel, and as a religious book of some authority. It is an Englishman's account of life at Rizong Gompa in Ladakh, which he came to love as muchā€¦


Book cover of Magical Boy

SJ Sindu Author Of Shakti

From my list on diverse graphic with magic for teens and tweens.

Why am I passionate about this?

When I was a kid, I moved from Sri Lanka to the US without any knowledge of English. I first learned the language through the stories I watched and then the ones I read. I spent hours in the library and was most strongly attracted to stories with magic and witches, which allowed me to escape my own life and find refuge in my imagination. These stories are why I became a writer, and many of these stories still hold sway over me today. When life gets hard, I love to escape into these magical worlds.

SJ's book list on diverse graphic with magic for teens and tweens

SJ Sindu Why did SJ love this book?

Iā€™ve loved the magical girl genre for a long time, ever since I first watched Sailor Moon when I was eight years old. This great duology for teens flips the genre on its head with a trans boy as its protagonist and wonderfully explores the nuances of what it means to be a hero. And itā€™s quite funny, too.

By The Kao,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Magical Boy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 12, 13, 14, and 15.

What is this book about?

A breathtakingly imaginative fantasy series starring
Max - a trans high school student who has to save the world
as a Magical Girl ... as a boy!
Although he was assigned female at birth, Max is your average
trans man trying to get through high school as himself. But on top
of classes, crushes and coming
out, Max's life is turned upside down when his
mom reveals an eons old family secret: he's descended from a long
line of Magical Girls tasked with defending humanity from a dark,
ancient evil!

With a sassy feline sidekick and loyal
gang of friendsā€¦


Book cover of All the White Spaces

Amy Goldsmith Author Of Those We Drown

From my list on spooky ships.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve always lived by the coast and have a healthy respect for the sea and a mortal fear of everything within it. Itā€™s truly terrifying to me that around 80% of the ocean is unexplored ā€“ what is down there? This fear partly inspired me to write Those We Drown, my YA horror debut set aboard a cruise ship and featuring a splash of oceanic horror.

Amy's book list on spooky ships

Amy Goldsmith Why did Amy love this book?

In All the White Spaces, WWI has just ended and we follow stowaway Jonathan Morgan to Antarctica, where he hopes to fulful his older brotherā€™s dreams of adventure and exploration.

When the ship gets stuck in the frozen Weddell Sea, the crew is forced into the icy wilderness of the South Pole. As they prepare to spend the winter there, they find something terrible waiting for them in the frozen wasteland.

A chilling ghost story exploring themes of identity, If you loved Dan Simmonā€™s The Terror, you will love this. 

By Ally Wilkes,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked All the White Spaces as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A Bram Stoker Award nominee

ā€œSome of the best survival horror weā€™ve read in years, with a uniquely menacing adversary at its heart.ā€ ā€”Vulture,The Best Horror Novels of 2022
ā€œEpic.ā€ ā€”Esquire,The 22 Best Horror Books of 2022

Something deadly and mysterious stalks the members of an isolated polar expedition in this haunting and spellbinding historical horror novel, perfect for fans of Dan Simmonsā€™s The Terror and Alma Katsuā€™s The Hunger.

In the wake of the First World War, Jonathan Morgan stows away on an Antarctic expedition, determined to find his rightful place in the world of men. Aboard the expeditionaryā€¦


Book cover of Before I Had the Words: On Being a Transgender Young Adult

James Sie Author Of All Kinds of Other

From my list on the world of trans masculine teens.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a gay author, father, and voice actor living in Los Angeles. When I started writing All Kinds of Other, there was very little literature centering trans characters in YA fiction, and virtually none about trans masculine characters. Trans teens have to face a lot of challengesā€”in school, at home, even from the government that is supposed to protect them. Itā€™s hard enough to just be a teenager, let alone face such discrimination. I wanted to write something that would reflect them and affirm their right to live and love, to be. Happily, since that time, there have been a number of books for teens that center trans characters, and Iā€™m happy to include some of them here.

James' book list on the world of trans masculine teens

James Sie Why did James love this book?

A rollicking and touching memoir from trans vlogging pioneer, artist, and musician Skylar Kergil. Skylar writes with honesty and wit, taking us through his whole childhood, coming out, and transitioning. If youā€™ve ever seen any of his transition vlogs on YouTube, you know how engaging Skylar is, and his voice shines through in this book. It feels very much like heā€™s talking to you over a cup of coffee. 

By Skylar Kergil,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Before I Had the Words as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

"A must-read for anyone who is trans or has trans family or friends." -Chase Ross, trans activist and speaker.

Revealing entries from the author's personal journals as well as interviews with his mother, brother, and friends lend remarkable depth to a groundbreaking memoir of change, loss, discovery, pain, and relief.

At the beginning of his physical transition from female to male, then-seventeen-year-old Skylar Kergil posted his first video on YouTube. In the months and years that followed, he recorded weekly update videos about the physical and emotional changes he experienced. Skylar's openness and positivity attracted thousands of viewers, who followedā€¦


Book cover of This One Looks Like a Boy: My Gender Journey to Life as a Man

A.M. Kirsch Author Of Murder of an Uncommon Man

From my list on dysfunctional family, gender identity, and murder.

Why am I passionate about this?

Born into a family with friction between parents, I never thought relationships could get much worse. When my parents divorced, father became estranged, then died by apparent suicide, memoirs by diverse voices opened my world and made me feel less alone. When I went through a sexual and gender identity crisis of my own, they helped me navigate the turmoil in my own life. I spent more than twenty-five years writing professionally for corporate and academic employers before writing biography and memoir became a coping skill.

A.M.'s book list on dysfunctional family, gender identity, and murder

A.M. Kirsch Why did A.M. love this book?

I was writing my book when I saw the cover of this memoir on the libraryā€™s ā€œnew booksā€ display. I wasnā€™t looking for another transition story but discovered that it crossed into ā€œmurder investigationā€ and was hooked. Lorimerā€™s life took him from the prairies to Vancouver, where he worked for the police department, and included a mid-life transition, with echoes to my arc. His connection to the horrific Pickton serial murder case between 2002 and 2007, involving missing, vulnerable women, makes his own story all the more poignant.

By Lorimer Shenher,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked This One Looks Like a Boy as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Inspiring and honest, this unique memoir of gender transition and coming-of-age proves it's never too late to find your true identity.

Since he was a small child, Lorimer Shenher knew something for certain: he was a boy. The problem was, he was growing up in a girl's body.

In this candid and thoughtful memoir, Shenher shares the story of his gender journey, from childhood gender dysphoria to teenage sexual experimentation to early-adult denial of his identity-and finally the acceptance that he is trans, culminating in gender reassignment surgery in his fifties. Along the way, he details his childhood in boomingā€¦


Book cover of Before Trans: Three Gender Stories from Nineteenth-Century France

Karen Offen Author Of Debating the Woman Question in the French Third Republic, 1870-1920

From my list on remarkable French women.

Why am I passionate about this?

I have always been fascinated by France and things French. In graduate school, no womenā€™s history was on our required reading lists. As a young woman, though, entering a professional field in which women were few on the ground, much less studied, I became an avid reader of biographies of achieving women ā€“ partly to learn how they were able to surmount (or not) the obstacles that confronted them in a male-dominated world. The five stellar biographies of French women I present here are products of the newer work in retrieving womenā€™s histories. They are deeply researched and engagingly written. They confirm the saying that ā€œtruth is stranger than fiction.ā€

Karen's book list on remarkable French women

Karen Offen Why did Karen love this book?

Before Trans is a triple biography of three very remarkable French women writers, all of whom preferred menā€™s clothing and behaved in unladylike ways. The three are Jane Dieulafoy (1850 - 1916), explorer and archeologist; the novelist Rachilde (Marguerite Eymery,1860-1953); and the erotic writer Marc de Montifaud (Marie-AmĆ©lie Charteroule de Montifaud,1845-1912). The distinctive feature of this provocative book is the authorā€™s effort to understand these women who chose to defy the boundaries of femininity but lived in a world that was ā€œbefore transā€ ā€“ before what we understand today as transgender, where oneā€™s sex and oneā€™s gender self-understanding do not line up. It is a brilliant book, which one reviewer describes (and I agree) as ā€œexceedingly well-written, layered, and compelling.ā€  Meschā€™s pioneering triple biography is not to be missed.

By Rachel Mesch,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Before Trans as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A fascinating exploration of three individuals in fin-de-siecle France who pushed the boundaries of gender identity.

Before the term "transgender" existed, there were those who experienced their gender in complex ways. Before Trans examines the lives and writings of Jane Dieulafoy (1850-1916), Rachilde (1860-1953), and Marc de Montifaud (1845-1912), three French writers whose gender expression did not conform to nineteenth-century notions of femininity.

Dieulafoy fought alongside her husband in the Franco-Prussian War and traveled with him to the Middle East; later she wrote novels about girls becoming boys and enjoyed being photographed in her signature men's suits. Rachilde became famousā€¦


Book cover of Act Cool

James Sie Author Of All Kinds of Other

From my list on the world of trans masculine teens.

Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™m a gay author, father, and voice actor living in Los Angeles. When I started writing All Kinds of Other, there was very little literature centering trans characters in YA fiction, and virtually none about trans masculine characters. Trans teens have to face a lot of challengesā€”in school, at home, even from the government that is supposed to protect them. Itā€™s hard enough to just be a teenager, let alone face such discrimination. I wanted to write something that would reflect them and affirm their right to live and love, to be. Happily, since that time, there have been a number of books for teens that center trans characters, and Iā€™m happy to include some of them here.

James' book list on the world of trans masculine teens

James Sie Why did James love this book?

Another YA book set in New York, but this time in the world of a performing arts school. August Greene, a trans boy from a conservative Pennsylvania community, not only gets accepted into a prestigious performing arts academy in the big city but gets to live his authentic life while doing so. Trouble is, his parents donā€™t know heā€™s trans. McSmith is heavily involved in the NY theatre scene, and he writes with insight and accuracy about both trans issues and trans representation in the performing arts. 

By Tobly McSmith,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Act Cool as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

*Named a Rainbow Book List Title*

A trans teen walks the fine line between doing whatever it takes for his acting dream and staying true to himself in this moving, thought-provoking YA novel from the acclaimed author of Stay Gold.

Aspiring actor August Greene just landed a coveted spot at the prestigious School of Performing Arts in New York. There's only one problem: His conservative parents won't accept that he's transgender. And to stay with his aunt in the city, August must promise them he won't transition.

August is convinced he can play the part his parents want while actingā€¦


Book cover of Pageboy: A Memoir
Book cover of Between Perfect and Real
Book cover of Female Husbands

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