In Transition: Young Adult Literature and Transgender Representation

Corbett, editor of the International Journal of Young Adult Literature, debuts with an enlightening study of how depictions of trans characters in YA novels have changed since the early 2000s. The first wave of trans YA literature consisted of what Corbett calls “problem novels,” which tended to be written by cisgender authors who portrayed “transgender identity as a problem to be overcome in a cisnormative society.” The 2010s saw a rise in novels written by trans authors, but, according to Corbett, marketing materials continued to prioritize cis readers. For instance, Corbett suggests that the descriptive copy for trans author Meredith Russo’s If I Was Your Girl (2016) treats the protagonist’s trans identity as an “exciting reveal” designed to “capitalize on the intrigue of cisgender consumers.” Elsewhere, Corbett posits that portrayals of trans children’s relationships with their cis parents in such books as Aiden Thomas’s Cemetery Boys (2020) upend traditional notions of parental authority by depicting trans children as experts on their “identities, experiences, and stories.” Corbett’s encyclopedic knowledge of trans YA literature buoys her close readings of C.B. Lee’s Not Your Villain (2017), Akwaeke Emezi’s Pet (2019), and other works, providing an incisive overview of trends in trans representation over the past 20 years. This perceptive inquiry enthralls. (June)