Happy Trans Day of Visibility (March 31)! 🏳️‍⚧️ Transgender characters in middle grade are such a great way to introduce young readers to the flexibility of gender. And these 18 middle grade novels are all beautiful, well-rounded explorations of trans and gender noncomforming identities! All summaries written by me.

One issue with this list is that there aren’t many POC trans authors or characters, due to the lack of LGBTQ+ POC representation in general. If you have any recommendations for good POC trans authors please let me know!

Trans protagonists

The Beautiful Something Else by Ash Van Otterloo

When Sparrow Malone’s mom enters rehab, she sends them to live on a colorful, sprawling estate with their estranged extended family. There, they finally get a break from being Mom’s perfect daughter. Also, they get some rad new red boots.

When Sparrow puts the boots on, their shadow starts acting up. Sparrow can’t tell if Shadow is trying to help them, or is just a mischievous side of themself determined to cause trouble. But Sparrow has other things to worry about, too: family members they’d never met, new friends, and the realization that neither girl nor boy fits them very well.

Both Can Be True by Jules Machias

After moving to a new school, Ash makes a decision: to let everyone assume that Ash is short for Ashley, so that no one has to know about how their gender goes back and forth between girl and guy. But it becomes more complicated when Ash’s crush, Daniel, who’s always been told by the world that he’s too sensitive, asks for Ash to help him save a dog who’s about to be euthanized. As the dog, Chewbarka, lead Ash and Daniel grow closer together, Ash worries that Daniel won’t like them if he figures out they’re not always a girl. Will Ash reveal their true identity, or choose to let Daniel see them as “Ashley” forever?

The One Who Loves You the Most by medina

Gabriela has always felt a little out of place–in the way the world sees them as a girl, and as a Latinx adoptee in a white family. At home, they long to help with their mom’s depression; but at school, where they don’t have any close friends, they feel like they can’t even speak up for themself. But Gabriela learns to feel less alone when they meet some supportive queer friends (and maybe even…a girlfriend?) who teach them about all the different ways they can identify outside of girl or boy.

TW: parent with depression

Melissa by Alex Gino

Melissa knows she’s a girl. But everyone else sees her as a boy named George. When a performance of Charlotte’s Web is announced at her school, Melissa is determined to try out as Charlotte. So that she can be seen as a girl for just a day, and then maybe she’ll have the courage to tell everyone who she really is. But because she’s seen as a boy, her teacher doesn’t even let her try out for Charlotte. How will Melissa show the world who she truly is?

Alice Austen Lived Here by Alex Gino

Sam and their best friend TJ are two happy nonbinary middle schoolers who live on Staten Island. But they’re tired of their history teacher, who always teaches as if only Dead Straight Cis White Men have ever affected the world. When a contest opens for kids to choose a local hero for a new statue, Sam has a great idea that will oppose their teacher’s expectations and give them something cool to learn about: they’ll enter Alice Austen, a sapphic photographer from Staten Island who just so happened to have lived in Sam’s own apartment long ago.

With help from TJ, and Sam’s queer mentors/neighbors, Alice is well on her way to winning the competition…as long as their history teacher keeps an open mind.

Gracefully Grayson by Ami Polonsky

Grayson has lived with her aunt, uncle, and cousins since an accident killed her parents. And while her aunt and uncle are loving and kind, Grayson can’t tell them the secret that’s burning a hole inside her: she may have been born in a boy’s body, but she loves wearing dresses and she knows that she’s a girl on the inside.

Grayson struggles to make friends at school, but a production of Persephone might be the escape she’s looking for. If she can just land the role of Persephone, she can wear a dress onstage and be a girl in front of an audience. But will the school allow it?

Spin With Me by Ami Polonsky

Essie is disgruntled about having to move temporarily with her dad and start at a new school. She can’t wait for the 110 days until her return home to be over. But when she meets Ollie, a nonbinary classmate who makes her stomach jolt, she’s not so sure she wants the move to end.

Ollie feels the same way about Essie, but her stay in North Carolina is coming to an end. Will the two tell each other how they feel before it’s too late?

Camp QUILTBAG by A.J. Sass and Nicole Melleby

When Kai (e/em/eir) and Abigail (she/her/hers) meet in the forest of Camp QUILTBAG, a summer camp for queer kids, neither of them is sure they should be there. Kai just wants to be at home, doing parkour with eir friends, and trying to forget about the incident that put eir arm in a cast. Abigail, though initially excited to meet more kids like her who won’t laugh at her crushes on older actresses, is feeling out of place among a lot of other queer kids who seem like they have their identities all figured out. 

Soon, though, Abigail and Kai figure out a way they can help each other: if Kai helps Abigail make some friends at camp, Abigail will help competitive Kai’s cabin win the camp-wide competition. But deals never go as smoothly as planned, and as both Kai and Abigail navigate crushes, new friendships, and insecurities, they will both have to figure out what matters the most to them before the summer ends.

Ana on the Edge by A.J. Sass

Ana’s one true love is figure skating. The way she can express herself on the ice has always felt freeing and joyful. But Ana prefers pants and hoodies to dresses and frills, so when the annual skating program’s princess theme is announced, Ana starts to feel out of place on the rink for the first time. 

When Ana befriends Hayden, a transgender skater, Ana begins to realize that there are options for her outside of the gender everyone thinks she is. But Hayden initially mistakes Ana for a boy, and Ana doesn’t correct him. It feels good to hide in this boyish identity for a while. But as time goes on, Ana feels like she’s lying not only to Hayden, but to everyone who thinks she’s a girl, too. Will she have the courage to tell everyone the truth, even if it could risk her spot on the rink?

Rabbit Chase 

When the Indigenous students at Aimée’s school go on a field trip to learn about Paayehnsag, the local water spirits, Aimée would rather focus on their video game, trying to drown out the memories of classmates who tease them after coming out as non-binary. With their head buried in their game, they accidentally separate from the rest of the group…and end up in an Alice in Wonderland-esque dimension, populated by Anishinaabe spirits and figures. To return home, Aimée must help Trickster track down some evil water spirits, while also trying to get past the land-thieving Queen of Hearts and her robot army.

Gender noncomforming protagonist/trans allegory

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

Prince Sebastian spends his days meeting eligible young women his
parents want him to marry. But he spends his nights as Lady Crystallia, a
daring fashion icon who wears dresses of the like no one has ever seen
before. Sebastian’s secret weapon is Frances, a dressmaker ahead of her
time. But while Frances loves making dresses for Sebastian, who has
become her best friend, she wants more: she wants to become a famous
fashion designer, and she can’t do that while hiding in Lady
Crystallia’s shadow. Will Frances be able to make a decision that will
protect Sebastian and help her follow her dreams?

The Witch Boy by Molly Knox Ostertag

Aster’s family has magic. For generations, boys have learned to
shapeshift while girls learned witchcraft. But Aster can’t shapeshift no
matter how hard he tries, and he’s truly happy when spying on the
girls’ magic lessons. Aster knows that there has been one witch boy in
the past…but that he turned into a monster and was banished from the
family. During a shapeshifting ritual, however, the other boys start to
go missing, and Aster knows he can help them with magic. He meets
Charlie, a non-magical girl who convinces him to use the powers he has
to save his family, and stand up for himself. 

Major trans side character

The Ojja Wojja by Magdalene Visaggio and Jenn St-Onge  

Val and Lanie live in the small town of Bolingbroke, where being different is not really an option. Luckily for Val, who has autism, and Lanie, who’s queer, they have each other, and a ragtag lunch group of other kids who don’t fit in. Val’s a ghost believer, and Lanie dapples in modern witchcraft, and both girls’ interests lead them to a project searching for local ghosts. Though Lanie is skeptical at first, a run-in with an undeniable ghost convinces both girls that something is up in Bolingbroke. 

When the school bully goes too far, Val and Lanie decide to try a spell to curse her…and end up summoning an ancient demon, the Ojja Wojja, who possesses the bully and starts to take over the entire town. What happens next is not for the faint of heart, but be assured that there will be plenty of zombies, suspicious old people, and the power of friendship. 

TW: transphobia

The Moon Within by Aida Salazar

Celi Rivera doesn’t know what to do with her changing body, or her crush on skater boy Iván. But she does know that she does not want a moon ceremony when she gets her first period. Her mother is insistent on Celi participating in the Mexica coming-of-age tradition, but Celi would rather not get a period at all. But soon, everything’s changing: with Iván, with Celi’s best friend, and with Celi’s body. Does she have the strength to become her truest self?

Snapdragon by Kat Leyh

When Snap meets Jacks, the town witch, she realizes that Jacks isn’t a witch at all. Just an eccentric old lady with a weird obsession with roadkill. Snap asks Jacks to help her take care of the baby opossums she rescued in exchange for Snap helping Jacks collect roadkill skeletons. But as Snap learns more about Jacks, she discovers a secret that may involve some real magic–and a tie to Snap’s own family.

Hazel’s Theory of Evolution by Lisa Jenn Bigelow

Hazel already has enough to worry about, starting at a new school in eighth grade. But when one of her moms announces that she’s pregnant, Hazel couldn’t feel worse about it. Hazel loves her family, and the idea of being a big sister–but her mom has already miscarried twice, and Hazel doesn’t think that her family could handle a third time. 

Luckily, Hazel has an escape in the wide world of animals. After spending time with the goats that her other mom raises for their milk, her favorite pastime is reading through nature encyclopedias. She’s even working on her own. All she needs is to get through the school year, and her mother’s pregnancy, without having any big feelings or standing out among her classmates. But when Hazel makes some unexpected friends at school, she starts to wonder whether her plan of hiding all year is actually worth it. With the help of her family and new friends, Hazel will get through this year–and maybe the other side will be even better.

Anthologies with trans representation

This Is Our Rainbow: 16 Stories of Her, Him, Them, and Us edited by Nicole Melleby and Katherine Locke

A charming, heartwarming, and inclusive anthology of middle grade short stories and comics centered around LGBTQIA+ kids, with stories from much-loved authors such as Molly Knox Ostertag, Alex Gino, Shing Yin Khor, and Justina Ireland. 

A non-binary kid discovers their unique sense of style–and some new friends along the way. An animated gollem thinks she can’t feel human emotions–but ends up falling for the princess she is charged with rescuing. A witch girl transforms into a dog to find a way to form a deep friendship with her new neighbor. In these amazing stories, sixteen queer kids find a place for themselves to belong, find joy, and live their lives to the fullest.

Calling the Moon: 16 Period Stories from BIPOC Authors, edited by Aida Salazar and Yamile Saied Méndez

Following Aida Salazar’s beautiful period novel in verse, The Moon Within, is a rich, diverse anthology of period stories starring BIPOC kids. Christina Soontornvat, Saadia Faruqi, Nikki Grimes, and Erin Entrada Kelly are just a few of the outstanding MG authors featured in this collection.

A star soccer player struggles with her mom’s expectations of femininity, and when she gets her period, she tries hard to hide it from her mom. A nonbinary kid gets their period, and struggles with what that means for their gender. A Latine girl gets her period while working at a doll factory with her mom. All of these stories paint a beautiful tapestry of the complexities of menstruation as a person of color.

Thanks for reading! If you’re interested in more queer kidlit, try my list of LGBTQIA+ Middle Grade Novels. Or, follow the LGBTQIA tag below for all of my queer book recs 🙂