Transparent Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers [Paperback]

When Cris Beam moved to Los Angeles, she thought she might volunteer just a few hours at a school for gay and transgender kids. Instead, she found herself drawn deeply into the pained and powerful group of transgirls she discovered. Transparent introduces four: Christina, Dominique, Foxxjazell, and Ariel. As they accept Cris into their world, she shows it to usa dizzying mix of familiar teenage cliques and crushes and far less familiar challenges, such as how to morph your body on a few dollars a day. Funny, heartbreaking, defiant, and sometimes defeated, the girls form a singular community. But they struggle valiantly to resolve the gap between the way they feel inside and the way the world sees themand who among us cant identify with that? Beams astute reporting, sensitive writing, and passionate engagement with her characters place this book in the ranks of the very best narrative nonfiction.

PRAISE FORTRANSPARENT
 
Beam knows how to tell a story. Her tone is evocative and warm. Her style grabs the reader at once . . . [Transparent] is also a love story about one young woman reaching out and helping another one claim her place in the world. --San Francisco Chronicle
 
From the first breezy, confident paragraph of this nonfiction tale of transgender teens, you know you're in for a compelling journey--and you know it's with a guide you can trust. Beam . . . does justice to an oft-misrepresented topic, thanks to her reporter's chops and gift for storytelling . . . Deeply felt and well-informed,Transparenttells its story from a sharp and fresh perspective. --Time Out New York

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HERES WHAT YOU SEE when you drive down Los Angeless Santa Monica Boulevard just east of La Brea: a 7-Eleven, a Shakeys Pizza, a low concrete building with fish painted on the side, and a taco stand. Theres a Chinese takeout place and a triple-X video rental shop, a filling station, andl#