The Days of Anna Madrigal

Shirley J.          Adult Fiction               A Transgender Life,   Burning Man, Regrets and Reparations 

The Days of Anna Madrigal by Armistead Maupin (Book 9 in the Tales of the City series)  270 pages

An enjoyable story of a transgender woman named Anna Madrigal who lives in San Francisco and is ninety-two.   It is very much a coming of age story, a coming of sexual orientation story and a last hurrah at Burning Man for wanton pagan debauchery and fun.    Anna confides her life story how she became who she is, the regrets she bears and the best way she knows how to honor what has gone before and since.   Fun details of burning man, bittersweet memories of several lives touched  and proof that rough beginnings don't hold us back, they just teach us how to proceed.   Excellent story,    I recommend this one for mature teens on up

Almost Perfect

Almost Perfect, by Brian Katcher, 368 pages

Happy Pride Month.  Logan is a typical country high school jock in Missouri- his school is tiny, everyone knows everyone, and he's heartbroken over a breakup with his one long-term girlfriend.  Enter Sage- a quirky, cute new girl to whom Logan is immediately drawn.  She seems to like him, too, but she refuses to get too close, and her parents seem to have restrictive rules about her dating.  What's the big deal? Well, it's not too much of a spoiler- Sage was born a biological boy.  When she tells Logan, he freaks out, and the rest of the book is a testament to how hard it is to be trans and how much of a jerk even the well-intentioned can be.  It's a tough one to get through, mainly because the narrator/ main character is the worst (ok, he's probably just too young and confused, himself, to know better); but I'm always happy to find a book that addresses the experiences of an often misunderstood and marginalized minority.  If you're the same, then it might be worth a read.

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin, 182 pages

This is a great book highlighting the lives of several transgender teens.  The book has a separate chapter for each teen and discusses, often in their own words what life has been like for them.  Some of the teens are in the process of transitioning from one sex to another, some are ok with not feeling as if they are specifically one sex or the other.  Some feel as if they are gender neutral.  Some prefer to be referred to as he or she, because they identify as one or the other.  Some prefer to be referred to as them, because they don’t identify as one or the other.  This book really got into the teens feelings and struggles.  While it may not explain everything, it certainly explains that gender can be a difficult concept for some people and that not everything is black and white.  Or blue and pink, as the case may be.  A good book for teens who are struggling to understand themselves or for teens who want to understand more about what their transgender peers may be experiencing.