Beyond Magenta Transgender and Nonbinary Teens Speak Out [Paperback]

A 2015 Stonewall Honor Book

A groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens.

Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and after their personal acknowledgment of gender preference. Portraits, family photographs, and candid images grace the pages, augmenting the emotional and physical journey each youth has taken. Each honest discussion and disclosure, whether joyful or heartbreaking, is completely different from the other because of family dynamics, living situations, gender, and the transition these teens make in recognition of their true selves.[A] sorely needed resource for teens and, frankly, many adults... Downright revelatory. ... Kuklin captures these teenagers not as idealized exemplars of what it “means” to be transgender but as full, complex, and imperfect human beings. As Kuklin writes, “My subjects’ willingness to brave bullying and condemnation in order to reveal their individual selves makes it impossible to be nothing less than awestruck.” She isn’t wrong.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Kuklin brings her intimate, compassionate and respectful lens to the stories of six transgender young people.
... The collective portrait that emerges from these narratives and pictures is diverse, complex and occasionally self-contradictory — as any true story should be.Informative, revealing, powerful and necessary.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

[A] strikingly in-depth examination of the sometimes clinical complexities of being transgender, even as Kuklin’s empathy-inducing pictures put a human face on the experience. ... Kuklin’s important new book brings welcome clarity to a subject that has often been obscure and givl¾