Beyond Magenta, by Susan Kuklin

Author and photographer: Susan Kuklin

Lexile Level: HL600L

Genre: Nonfiction, “Sexual Orientation”

Kuklin, Susan. Beyond magenta: transgender teens speak out. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2014. Print.

ISBN: 978-0-7636-5611-9

Recommended for:  Grades 7- 12

Also by Kuklin:       

No chairboy:Murder, Violence and Teenagers

Teenagers on Death Row

Summary: The author, Susan Kuklin, met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and respectfully recorded their stories in this nonbiased nonfiction book. She also took pictures of those that consented to give them and it adds to the authenticity of the story. Each of the teens’ situations is different and the book gives much insight in their lives. We find out about their childhood days and habits. We learn about their challenges in school and with their friends before and after their transformation. We read about each of their parents and their reactions to the teens’ decisions. This book answers some of the toughest questions about teen gender issues and is great read to both teens and adults.

Selling Tool: (Book Review)

This book was actually better than I thought it would be when picking it up. I was always wondering about the issues of transgender and homosexuality and this non-fiction book answered some of my toughest questions so I’m glad I picked it up. It gives testimonies of six transgender teens and their journey to joining a transgender community. The stories come with nice colorful pictures that add to the reality and at times, little sadness of the book.

The book is superbly and totally non judgmentally written. The highlight of the book is a poem by one of the teens, Luke. The poem is about the pressure to choose between two colors, pink or blue, representing genders. His answer was: “I’m a real nice color of magenta”.

This is a great book to use when discussing gender topics among teens. If you, like me, ever wondered why people want to be a different gender than they were from the beginning, this is a book for you.  If you ever wondered what transformation they have to go through, (both mental and physical), to get to their set goal, you will find your answers here as well. I love that it is nonfiction, which adds to the authenticity and makes it so clear that the family upbringing and childhood habits have a big part in the child’s life and future decisions.

Activity: The students will write questions they would ask a transgender teen.

Goal: students will understand the background and events of transgender teens’ lives that lead to their decisions to change who they wanted to be.

Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.3
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

Objective:

·         Using the book, the students will pick a person from the book and write 3 things that happened in their life of transformation.

Outcomes: students will be able to make conclusions and inferences when talking about sensitive topics in the future reads.