Diverse Books: Beyond Magenta

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin is a collection of memories from transgender teenagers and young adults about their experiences discovering themselves and interacting with the world and people around them. The accounts of their experiences are taken from conversations the subjects had with the author.

(picture taken from Goodreads)

Conclusion: This is kind of a strange book. Not so much because of the content, much of which I've learned from other sources as well, but because of the composition. Compiled as it was from taped conversations, the stories are a bit scattered. I appreciate the separation of subjects and the attention to detail in the author's research. She made a point of getting a variety of people and backgrounds about which to write her book. My eye was constantly twitching at the use of the word "they" for an individual, but I'm having trouble thinking of another pronoun to use that doesn't specify gender. "One" seems too non-specific on who is being discussed. Anyway, I think this book is probably a good informal introduction to the transgender young adult, and I appreciate the contribution from each of the people who participated in its creation. I'd like to read something a little more in-depth now to expand my knowledge of the transgender topic.

Recommendation: If you don't know much about transgender identity or would like to hear first-person accounts of teenagers and young adults who are transgender, this is a good book for you. There is a good variety of situational accounts in it that will help provide better understanding.

Beyond Magenta is my March choice for the 2015 We Read Diverse Books Challenge on sexual orientation.