Stories about transgender and non-binary teens are important and necessary in fiction, full stop. Although there are certainly more books available now about trans and non-binary teens than a decade ago, there is still plenty of room for books with trans characters!
You are reading: Ya books about gender identity
and because trans and non-binary people are not a monolith, we need all the stories we can get! From hard-hitting contemporary to the height of fantasy, these stories are crucial for teens (and beyond!) struggling to find books in which they feel represented.
here are some books with trans and non-binary characters, each telling a unique story!
21 books with trans and non-binary characters
to add to your tbrs
1. meet emery lee’s cute diary
noah ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. he has to be for his popular blog, the daily meet cute, a collection of trans happily ever after. there is only one problem: all the stories are false. what began as the fantasies of a trans guy afraid to come out has become a beacon of hope for trans readers around the world.
When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, noah’s world falls apart. the only way to save the diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he has no proof. Draw then enters Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Draw is willing to go on a fake date with Noah to save the diary. But when Noah’s feelings go beyond his pretend romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t the same as finding love on the page.
In this charming novel from Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script.
- buy meet cute diary now!
2. act cool by tobly mcsmith
Aspiring actor August Greene has just landed a coveted spot at New York’s prestigious School of Performing Arts. There’s just one problem: His conservative parents won’t accept that he’s transgender. And in order to stay with his aunt in town, August must promise them that he won’t transition.
august is convinced that he can play the role his parents want while acting calmly and confidently in the company of his new and talented friends.
But who is August when the lights go out? And where will he turn when the roles start to fit too close to home?
- buy act cool now!
3. out of nowhere by jason june
crest isn’t thrilled to be on his journey: the month-long sojourn on earth that all teenage merfolk must go through. The rules are simple: either help a human within a lunar cycle and return to Pacifica to become an elder, or fail and remain trapped on earth forever. Crest is eager to finish his journey. humans are disgusting. they have polluted the planet so much that there is a floating island of garbage that is literally the size of a country.
In Los Angeles with a human body and a new name, Crest meets Sean, a human lifeguard whose boyfriend recently dumped him. Crest agrees to help Sean make his ex jealous of him and win him back. But as the two spend more time together and Crest’s perspective on humans begins to change, they soon find themselves torn between two worlds. and fake dating can lead to real feelings. . .
this sophomore novel by jason june dives into the many definitions of the word home and shows how love can help us find the truest versions of ourselves.
- buy out of the blue now!
4. felix forever by kacen callender
Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too many—Black, queer, and transgender—to ever get his own happily-ever-after.
When an anonymous student starts sending him transphobic messages (after publicly posting felix’s dead name along with pictures of him before he transitioned), felix comes up with a plan for revenge. what he didn’t count on: his catfish scenario led him to a quasi-love triangle…
But as he navigates his complicated feelings, Felix begins a journey of questioning and self-discovery that helps him redefine his most important relationship: how he feels about himself.
- buy felix ever after now!
5. the (un)popular vote of jasper sanchez
optics can make or break a choice. everything that mark knows about politics he learned from his father, the congressman who still pretends to have a daughter and not a son.
Mark has vowed to keep his past hidden and pretend to be the cis guy everyone assumes him to be. But when he sees a manipulatively charming candidate for student body president turn on dangerous rhetoric, Mark risks his low profile to become a political challenger.
the problem? no one really knows brand. he didn’t grow up in this town, and his few friends are all nerds. Still, thanks to scandal and the West Wing, they know where to start: from campaign stops to voter polls to a fashion makeover.
Soon Mark is emboldened to engage with the voters and even start a new romance. But with an investigative reporter digging into his past, a father trying to silence him, and his favorite bully standing in his way, Mark will have to decide which matters more: perception or truth, when both are just as dangerous. p>
- buy the (un)popular vote now!
6. battleship april daniels
Danny Tozer has a problem: she just inherited the powers of Dreadnought, the world’s greatest superhero. Until Dreadnought fell out of the sky and died right in front of her, Danny was trying to keep people from finding out she’s transgender. But before he expired, Dreadnought passed his mantle to her, and those secondhand superpowers transformed Danny’s body into what she’s always thought it should be. Now there’s no hiding that she’s a girl.
It should be the happiest time of his life, but Danny’s first few weeks finally living in a body that fits him are more difficult and complicated than he could have imagined. between her father’s dangerous obsession with “healing” her childhood, her best friend suddenly acting like he has the right to date her, and her fellow superheroes arguing over her place in the ranks From her, Danny feels that he is outmatched.
He doesn’t have time to adjust. Dreadnought’s killer, a cyborg named Utopia, still stalks the streets of the new port city, threatening destruction. If Danny can’t get through the turmoil of coming out of the closet, master his powers, and stop Utopia in time, humanity faces extinction.
- buy battleship now!
7. stay gold by tobly mcsmith
See Also: Adding Books To Your Lithium Epub Reader – Zksnyder.com
Pony just wants to fly under the radar during senior year. Tired from all the attention he got at his old school after coming out as transgender, he’s looking for a fresh start at Hillcrest High. But it’s hard to live your best life when the threat of exposure lurks down every hallway and in every bathroom.
georgia is starting to think there’s more to life than being a cheerleader. She plans to keep a low profile until graduation… which is why she promised herself that officially dating wouldn’t be possible this year.
Then, on the first day of school, the new kid and the cheerleader lock eyes. How is pony supposed to stay stealthy when he wants to get close to a girl like georgia? How is Georgia supposed to keep her promise when the sparks start to fly with a guy as a pony?
- buy stay gold now!
8. if i were your girl by meredith russo
Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone.
But when she meets Grant, sweet and easy going, Amanda can’t help but let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes how much she is losing by protecting her heart. He finds himself longing to share everything about her with Grant, including her past. But Amanda is terrified that once she tells him the truth, he won’t be able to see past it.
because of the secret amanda has been keeping? is that at her old school, she used to be andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life and her new love?
- shop if i was your girl now!
9. in the real thing by z brewer
Three Quinns. Three Brumes. Three realities.
The first mist is a waking nightmare, overrun by literal monsters and ruthless survivors. For Quinn, who is openly genderqueer, the silver lining is her friendship with Lia, and that there may still be hope of salvation.
The second mist is a prison without bars. Forced to “fix” her sexuality with other teens at Camp Redemption, Quinn must also figure out why coming forward as a woman has never felt quite right.
The third mist is a war zone. For Quinn, who introduces herself as male, leading the resistance against an authoritarian government is difficult, as even the resistance might not accept them if they knew Quinn’s truth.
When Quinn begins to realize that they could be one person switching between these three worlds and identities, they wonder: which one is the real world? Or do they all contain some deeper truth?
- buy the real thing now!
10. i wish you all the best for mason deaver
When Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they’re thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents’ rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school.
But Ben’s attempts to lay low for the last half of senior year are thwarted when funny and charismatic student Nathan Allan decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan’s friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what began as a disastrous turn of events appears to be an opportunity to start a happier new life.
- buy I wish you all the best now!
11. pet by akwaeke emezi
There are no monsters anymore, or so the children in the city of Lucille are taught.
Jam and her best friend, Redemption, have grown up with this lesson their entire lives. But when Jam meets Pet, a creature made of horns, colors, and claws, who emerges from one of her mother’s paintings and a drop of Jam’s blood, she must reconsider what she’s been told.
pet has come to hunt a monster, and the shadow of something grim lurks in the house of redemption. Ella Jam must fight not only to protect her best friend, but also to discover the truth and the answer to the question: how do you save the world from monsters if no one admits they exist?
- buy your pet now!
12. when the moon was ours by anna-marie mclemore
To everyone who knows them, best friends Miel and Sam are as strange as they are inseparable.
Roses grow from the honey doll, and rumor has it that she spilled out of a water tower when she was five years old. Sam is known for the moons he paints and hangs from trees and how little is known about his life before he and his mother moved to town.
But as strange as everyone considers Honey and Sam, even they steer clear of the Bonner Girls, four beautiful sisters rumored to be witches. now they want the roses that sprout from the skin of honey, convinced that their aroma can make anyone fall in love. And they’re willing to use all the secrets honey has fought to protect to make sure she gives them up.
- shop when the moon was ours now!
13. spellhacker from m.k. england
In Kyrkarta, magic—known as maz—was once a freely available natural resource. Then an earthquake released a magical plague, killing thousands and opening the door for a greedy corporation to make maz a commodity that’s tightly controlled—and, of course, outrageously expensive.
That’s why Diz and her three best friends have a lucrative, illegal side job of Maz Siphoning. her next job is supposed to be her last heist.
But when their plan reveals a powerful new variety of corn that (literally) blows up in their faces, they’re forced to unravel a conspiracy at the very center of the spell plague and possibly save the world. no pressure.
- buy spellhacker now!
14. graveyard boys by aiden thomas
Yadriel has summoned a ghost, and now he can’t get rid of him.
When her traditional Latinx family struggles to accept her gender, Yadriel is determined to prove that she is a true witch. With the help of his cousin and best friend Maritza, he performs the ritual himself and then goes out to look for the ghost of his murdered cousin and free him.
However, the ghost he summons is actually Julian Diaz, the school’s resident bad boy, and Julian isn’t about to die quietly. he is determined to find out what happened and tie up some loose ends before he leaves. With no other choice, Yadriel agrees to help Julian, so they can both get what they want. But the more time Yadriel spends with Julian, the less he wants her to go.
- buy graveyard kids now!
15. the brilliant death of a.r. folder
Teodora di Sangro is used to hiding her magical ability to transform enemies into music boxes and mirrors. Nobody knows she’s a strega-and she aims to keep it that way.
she meets heaven and everything changes.
See Also: 10 Books You Need To Read When You’re 21
sky, a strega who can shapeshift as easily as turning the page of a book, shows teodora what her life could be like if she harnesses the power she’s been keeping secret. And not a moment too soon: The ruler of Vinalia has poisoned the patriarchs of the country’s five controlling families, including Theodora’s father, and demands that each family send a son to the palace.
If she wants to save her family, Teodora must travel to the capital, not disguised as a child, but transformed into one. But the path to the capital, and to put a stop to her powers, is full of enemies and complications, including the one she least expects: falling in love.
- buy shiny death now!
16. out now: queer we go again, ed. by saundra mitchell
QUEER WE GO AGAIN!
A sequel to the critically acclaimed anthology, now available with seventeen new short stories from incredible queer authors now.
vampires crash prom, aliens flee the government, a president’s daughter recovers, a true romantic tries to soften the heart of a cynical social media influencer, a selkie and the sea call a lost soul.
p>
teapots and barbershops, skateboards and vw vans, street fighter and ares’s sword: out now has a story for every reader and surprises with every turn of the page!
- buy now!
17. lagolore by anna-marie mclemore
everyone who lives near the lake knows the stories about the world below, an ethereal landscape rumored to be half air, half water. but bastián silvano and lore garcia are the only ones who have been there. bastian grew both above the lake and in the otherworldly space below it. Lore has only seen the world under the lake once, but that encounter changed her life and his destiny.
then the lines between air and water begin to blur. the world under the lake floats on the surface. If Bastián and Lore don’t want him to bring their secrets to the surface, they have to stop him, and to do that, they have to work together. There’s just one problem: Bastian and Lore haven’t spoken in seven years, and working together means trusting each other with the very things they’re trying to hide.
- buy lagolore now!
18. cory mccarthy’s man of war
A painfully honest and often hilarious coming-of-age novel about a trans Arab American swimmer who struggles to keep his head above water in a midwestern landlocked town. River McIntyre has grown up across the street from Sea Planet, an infamous sea life theme park that’s slowly closing in small-town Ohio. When a chance encounter with a happy, healthy queer person on the annual outing causes the river to literally drop into the shark tank, they must admit the truth: they don’t know who they are, only what they’ve been told to be. this triggers a harrowing journey of self-discovery, from internalized homophobia and gender dysphoria, through layers of revelation, affirmation surgery, and true love.
- buy a warship now!
19. tessa gratton night glow
How can you live without your heart?
In the vast palace of the Empress lives an orphaned girl named Nada. She slips into the shadows of the court, invisible except to the great demon of the palace and her true friend, the kirin prince, heir to the throne. When Kirin is kidnapped, only Nada and the prince’s bodyguard suspect that Kirin may have been kidnapped by the Girl-Eating Enchantress, a powerful woman who has plagued the land for decades. The sorceress has never bothered with boys before, but nothing has uncovered many secrets from her in her sixteen years in the palace, including some about the prince.
While the empress’s army fruitlessly searches, Nada and the bodyguard embark on a rescue mission, through demon-ridden rain forests and spirit-guarded crossroads. their journey takes them to the gates of the fifth mountain, where the sorceress wields her power. there, nothing will discover that all magic is a bargain, and that she may be more powerful than she ever imagined. but the price the sorceress demands for the kirin may well cost her heart nothing.
- buy night glow now!
20. master of one by jaida jones and dani bennett
rags, the thief has never found a pocket he can’t pick, but when he’s captured by a wizard with plans to end the world, he realizes even he’s in over his head. Forced to use his finely honed skills to catch pieces of an ancient faerie relic, Rags is shocked to discover that those “relics” turn out to be people:
an absentmindedly handsome fae prince,
an overly honorable royal guard deserter,
a feisty daughter of a disgraced noble family,
a deceptively sweet prince,
a bona fide member of the resistance,
and him. rags.
They may all be caught up in the wizard’s terrible plan, but that won’t stop them from fighting back. And sure, six unlikely allies against an evil foe aren’t generous odds, but luckily for him, Rag isn’t generous, he’s smart. And he has a plan that could get them out of this alive.
Featuring the heist and intrigue of the Six of Crows and the dark fairytale feel of the Cruel Prince, this young adult fantasy debut will have readers rallying behind a pair of reluctant heroes as they face a faerie prophecy. that will end the world, a malicious royal plot, and, most dangerous of all, their feelings for each other.
- buy master of one now!
21. and they lived. . . by steven salvatore
chase arthur is a budding animator and hopeless romantic obsessed with disney movies and finding his true love, but he’s plagued by the belief that he’s not enough for anyone: he’s recovering from an eating disorder and He suffers from body dysmorphia fueled by his father. , and he can’t figure out his gender identity. As Chase begins his freshman year of college, he has to deal with being away from home and missing his sister, finding his squad, and competing with his former best friend, Leila, who is seeking the same exclusive mentorship. If only he could put together a short for the freshman animation showcase at the end of the semester.
Chase then meets Jack Reid, a pragmatic poet who loves words and longs to experience life outside his sheltered world. But Chase questions everything for Jack, who is still discovering his sexual identity, having grown up in a tight-knit, conservative family. Jack internalized a lot of homophobia from his parents and his childhood best friend, who unexpectedly visit campus, which threatens to destroy their relationship. Chase will have to learn to love himself and be enough for himself, as he discovers what it means to truly live.
- bought and lived . . . now!
Do you have another book to add to this list? tell us in the comments!
See Also: Dee Henderson – Book Series In Order