Tomboy Survival Guide

In this wryly confessional memoir, author, poet, and filmmaker Coyote (Gender Failure) recounts a life growing up in the Yukon and Vancouver as a gender non-conforming tomboy. Coyote was designated “female” at birth but never liked “girly” things such as Barbie dolls. “It’s not like I thought I was a real boy,” they write. “I just knew I was not really a girl.” A series of vignettes charts Coyote’s journey as they gradually accepted their tomboy identity. Coyote opens the book, which is by turns raw, bittersweet, and funny, with a chapter describing the first time a stranger mistook them for a boy in public, and then moves on to other important experiences, such as the first time they kissed a girl and the moment they became fascinated with butch culture. Coyote also recounts their work as a landscaper in Vancouver and their pursuit of the electrical trades, a male-dominated field in which they felt at home. Stylishly illustrated with sketches of tools and enriched with poems and stories others have shared with Coyote, this book is highly recommended for transgender readers as well as those exploring their own gender identities or wanting to better understand non-binary experiences of a gendered world. (Nov.)