From a personal point of view
2 new books by trans youth offer important perspectives In this time of unconscionable attacks on transgender youth, two new middle-grade books — one by a trans girl and one by a trans boy — are both timely and vital. Joy, to the World by Kai Shappley and Lisa Bunker (Clarion), is a fictional story heavily shaped by Kai’s real life as a transgender girl and activist growing up in Texas.
The protagonist, 12-year-old Joy, has just moved to Texas with her divorced mother. Her family supports her identity, and she’s beginning to make friends and practice her newfound love of cheerleading with her “Sparkle Squad.” When her school principal says she can’t be on the school cheerleading team because she’s not a girl, however, she decides to challenge him, and later to speak out against anti-trans legislation in the state, inspired by her hero, Kai Shappley, who has done the same.
In fact, she even ends up meeting Kai and her mother, who help Joy and her family in their fight. Joy is “just a kid” whose life (like Kai’s) is full of friends and fun and bolstered by her Christian faith, and whose only exposure to “perversion” and “indoctrination” is when those words (which she must look up to understand) are used by those speaking against her.
Joy’s mother, though supportive, wants to protect her daughter from the inevitable hateful comments that Joy’s activism will trigger online and in the media.
