Intersex | Queer Books for Teens

The Names We Take

By Trace Kerr

Never leave someone behind: it’s a promise easier made than kept, especially when seventeen-year-old Pip takes the headstrong twelve-year-old Iris under her protection in the wake of an earth-shattering plague.

After an unspeakable tragedy, the duo must navigate the nearly unrecognizable remains of Spokane, facing roving slave traders, merciless gangs―and worse. Pip and Iris soon meet Fly, a stubborn and courageous older girl, and as the three grow closer and their circumstances grow more perilous, they must also grapple with their own identities in this cruel new world. Pip’s vow to never leave someone behind may have made survival more difficult for her, but this promise could also be the key to finding meaning in the ashes of what came before.

Representation: intersex MC.

Cattywampus

By Ash Van Otterloo

In the town of Howler’s Hollow, conjuring magic is strictly off-limits. Only nothing makes Delpha McGill’s skin crawl more than rules. So when she finds her family’s secret book of hexes, she’s itching to use it to banish her mama’s money troubles. She just has to keep it quiet as the grave — not exactly Delpha’s specialty.

Trouble is, Katybird Hearn is hankering to get her hands on the spell book, too. The daughter of a rival witching family, Katy has reasons of her own for wanting to learn forbidden magic, and she’s not going to let an age-old feud or Delpha’s contrary ways stop her. But their quarrel accidentally unleashes a hex so heinous it resurrects a cemetery full of angry Hearn and McGill ancestors bent on total destruction. If Delpha and Katy want to reverse the spell in time to save everyone in the Hollow from rampaging zombies, they’ll need to mend fences and work together.

Representation: intersex MC; side character has two moms.

Waiting for Walker

By Robin Reardon

The only good thing in young Micah Jaeger’s life is the camera his dad gave him before his folks split. He hides that he’s gay, and he’s ashamed that his mother consults a medium to talk to her older son, killed in Afghanistan. Then the gorgeous Walker Donnell sails into Micah’s life in his beautiful sailboat, and things are wonderful. That is, until Walker reveals his secret: He’s intersex.

Publisher’s Description:

Micah Jaeger’s life is a mess. His folks have split, and his mother is seeing a medium to communicate with Micah’s older brother, killed in Afghanistan. He had to change schools for his junior year, and he retreats further into himself, hiding behind his camera—and hiding that he’s gay.

One sunny day in June, as he’s shooting a dead seagull on the shore of Long Island Sound, a mysterious guy appears in a beautiful sailboat. At first, the guy’s boat shoes are the image that stays with Micah. But soon it’s the person himself, Walker Donnell, who haunts Micah’s dreams.

Walker’s life looks perfect to Micah. His wealthy parents adore him. He has everything he could want. He’s gorgeous and generous. And he falls hard for Micah. But he has a secret: Walker is intersex.

The closer Walker and Micah grow, the more Walker feels the need to be sure of himself in ways he hasn’t fully faced before, and now it’s his turn to retreat. Micah knows Walker is worth waiting for, so he waits. And waits.

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Cis boy: Micah
Intersex boy: Walker

Sexual Orientation:
Gay/Queer: Micah, Walker

Romantic Orientation:
Homoromantic: Micah, Walker

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Micah, Walker

Religion
Christian, Islam

Trigger Warnings:
Shark attack, dog injured/dying, Catholic dogmatism, war

Sometimes We Tell the Truth

By Kim Zarins

On an all-day bus ride to Washington DC, a group of high-school seniors compete to tell the best story for an A in their civics class, during which time some of their stories hit on truths they’ve kept hidden.

Publisher’s Description:

In this contemporary retelling of The Canterbury Tales, a group of teens on a bus ride to Washington, DC, each tell a story—some fantastical, some realistic, some downright scandalous—in pursuit of the ultimate prize: a perfect score.

Jeff boards the bus for the Civics class trip to Washington, DC, with a few things on his mind:
-Six hours trapped with his classmates sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
-He somehow ended up sitting next to his ex-best friend, who he hasn’t spoken to in years.
-He still feels guilty for the major part he played in pranking his teacher, and the trip’s chaperone, Mr. Bailey.
-And his best friend Cannon, never one to be trusted and banned from the trip, has something “big” planned for DC.

But Mr. Bailey has an idea to keep everyone in line: each person on the bus is going to have the chance to tell a story. It can be fact or fiction, realistic or fantastical, dark or funny or sad. It doesn’t matter. Each person gets a story, and whoever tells the best one will get an automatic A in the class.

But in the middle of all the storytelling, with secrets and confessions coming out, Jeff only has one thing on his mind—can he live up to the super successful story published in the school newspaper weeks ago that convinced everyone that he was someone smart, someone special, and someone with something to say.

In her debut novel, Kim Zarins breathes new life into Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in a fresh and contemporary retelling that explores the dark realities of high school, and the subtle moments that bring us all together.

Genre: YA Contemporary; stories of mixed genres

Representation:

Gender:
Cis boys: Jeff
Intersex: Pard (this is revealed later in the book, so a bit of a spoiler, as is the implication he was assigned female at birth)

Sexuality:
Gay: Pard
Bisexual: Jeff

Romantic Orientation:
Not specifically addressed.

Location: Canterbury, CT to Washington DC

Trigger Warnings: rape

Assassins: Nemesis (Assassins #2)

By Erica Cameron

Publisher’s Description:

“Being orphaned and almost kidnapped in the space of a week sent Blake Marks into hiding. For months, Blake tries to help the Calvers—a family of vigilante bodyguards—investigate the people behind the hit on Blake’s father, Isaac, but then the safehouse is compromised. Just as hired thugs storm the house to grab Blake, Daelan Calver dives into the fight, getting them both out alive.

Hiding isn’t an option anymore, but hit squads, under-the-table deals, and international espionage? Blake has no idea how to handle any of it, not even with Daelan’s family there to play teachers. The one thing Blake knows for sure is that there are only two options: keep up with the Calvers or get out of their way.

But even with the Calvers’ help and the glimmer of a possible future with Daelan giving Blake hope, chances of survival keep shrinking. The man who ordered the hit on Isaac may be dead, but his partner is viciously cold-blooded, and her plans could change the course of history. Blake wants to finish what Isaac started, but it’s looking like someone is going to die before this is over. And that someone might be Blake.”

Genre: Thriller

Representation:
Gender:
Blake is canon intersex with partial androgen sensitivity syndrome and gender fluid but mentally agender

Sexual and Romantic Orientation
Blake is panromantic graysexual

Race/Ethnicity:
Blake is mixed race

Disability:
Blake has severe allergies
Side character with severe anxiety

Religion:
Side character who is Muslim and wears a hijab

Additional Notes:

None of the Above

By I.W. Gregorio

One of the first YA books with a main character who is intersex, this novel follows Kristin, your prototypical “All-American” teenager girl who finds out she is intersex. Dealt with in a pretty typical fashion, Kristin has a hard time accepting her diagnosis, especially when the whole school finds out. Written by a doctor this book does a good job explaining the medical nuances of what it means to be intersex but is less successful in its treatment of Kristin’s emotional journey.

Read a review of this title from YA Pride

Publisher’s Description:

“A groundbreaking story about a teenage girl who discovers she was born intersex… and what happens when her secret is revealed to the entire school. Incredibly compelling and sensitively told, None of the Above is a thought-provoking novel that explores what it means to be a boy, a girl, or something in between.

What if everything you knew about yourself changed in an instant?

When Kristin Lattimer is voted homecoming queen, it seems like another piece of her ideal life has fallen into place. She’s a champion hurdler with a full scholarship to college and she’s madly in love with her boyfriend. In fact, she’s decided that she’s ready to take things to the next level with him.

But Kristin’s first time isn’t the perfect moment she’s planned—something is very wrong. A visit to the doctor reveals the truth: Kristin is intersex, which means that though she outwardly looks like a girl, she has male chromosomes, not to mention boy “parts.”

Dealing with her body is difficult enough, but when her diagnosis is leaked to the whole school, Kristin’s entire identity is thrown into question. As her world unravels, can she come to terms with her new self?”

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Intersex woman: Kristin

Sexual Orientation:
Kristin is heterosexual

Romantic Orientation:
Kristin is heteroromantic

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Kristin

Trigger Warnings:
Bullying

Pantomime

By Laura Lam

In Steampunk England, Micah Grey, an intersex teen, flees their unsupportive home and their noble heritage. They join the circus, where Micah finds a new family, learns the trapeze, and begins to discover dark secrets of their country’s past and the truth about themself.

Publisher’s Description:

In a land of lost wonders, the past is stirring once more . . .

Gene’s life resembles a debutante’s dream. Yet she hides a secret that would see her shunned by the nobility. Gene is both male and female. Then she displays unwanted magical abilities – last seen in mysterious beings from an almost-forgotten age. Matters escalate further when her parents plan a devastating betrayal, so she flees home, dressed as a boy.

The city beyond contains glowing glass relics from a lost civilization. They call to her, but she wants freedom not mysteries. So, reinvented as ‘Micah Grey’, Gene joins the circus. As an aerialist, she discovers the joy of flight – but the circus has a dark side. She’s also plagued by visions foretelling danger. A storm is howling in from the past, but will she heed its roar?

Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Steampunk

Representation:
Gender:
Genderqueer/Non-binary & Intersex: Micah
Cis girls: Aenea (side character)
Cis boys: Drystan (side character)

Sexuality:
Bisexual: Drystan, Micah
Unspecified: Aenea

Romantic Orientation:
Not mentioned in the book. Presumed to be the same as the characters’ sexual orientation.

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Micah, Drystan, Aenea

Trigger Warnings:
Violence
Death
Sexual Assault
Flashbacks to violating medical procedures

Additional Notes:

Although it is rectified in Shadowplay (the sequel), Pantomime seems to give the impression that intersex people are a magical species or a mystical subset of humans.

Ownvoices: Ownvoices for bisexuality.

Double Exposure

By Bridget Birdsall

Alyx is an intersex teen who was raised as a boy but knows she’s a girl. , After her father dies and she is badly beaten, she decides that she needs to find a way to be her true self. She moves to Wisconsin and joins the girls’ basketball team at her new school, but finds that she must prove that she is a girl, or her entire team will be disqualified.

Publisher’s Description

Fifteen-year-old Alyx Atlas was raised as a boy, yet she knows something others don’t. She’s a girl. And after her dad dies, it becomes painfully obvious that she must prove it now—to herself and to the world. Born with ambiguous genitalia, Alyx has always felt a little different. But it’s after she sustains a terrible beating behind a 7-Eleven that she and her mother pack up their belongings and move from California to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to start a new life—and Alyx begins over again, this time as a girl.

Alyx quickly makes new friends, earns a spot on the girls’ varsity basketball team, and for the first time in her life feels like she fits in. That is, until her prowess on the court proves too much for the jealous, hotheaded Pepper Pitmani, who sets out to uncover Alyx’s secret. A dangerous game of Truth or Dare exposes Alyx’s difference and will disqualify her entire basketball team from competing in the state championships unless Alyx can prove, once and for all, that she is a girl. But will Alyx find the courage to stand up for the truth of her personhood, or will she do what she’s always done—run away? Whatever she decides, she knows there’s much more at stake than a championship win.

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Trans girl, intersex: Alyx

Sexual Orientation &Romantic Orientation:
Not discussed

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Alyx

Trigger warnings: hate crime, transphobia, suicide/suicidal ideation

Alex As Well

By Alyssa Brugman

Alex was born intersex, and her parents decided for her to classify her as male. Alex doesn’t want this and starts going through radical changes, from giving up meat to creating a new identity, all to prove she is still Alex.

Note: this book has problematic representation and we do not recommend it.

Publisher’s Description

What do you do when everybody says you’re someone you’re not?

Alex wants change. Massive change. More radical than you could imagine.

Her mother is not happy, in fact she’s imploding. Her dad walked out.

Alex has turned vegetarian, ditched one school, enrolled in another, thrown out her clothes. And created a new identity. An identity that changes her world.

And Alex—the other Alex—has a lot to say about it.

Alex As Well is a confronting and heartfelt story of adolescent experience—of questioning identity, discovering sexuality, navigating friendships and finding a place to belong. Alex is a strong, vulnerable, confident, shy and determined character, one you will never forget.

With the same tenderness and insight as YA stars such as John Green and David Levithan, Alyssa Brugman has crafted a knockout story about identity, sexuality and family that speaks effortlessly to a universal teen experience.

Genre: Contemporary

Representation:
Gender:
Intersex: Alex
Trans girl: Alex

Sexual Orientation:
Lesbian/Queer: Alex

Romantic Orientation:
Homoromantic: Alan

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Alex
Black love interest

Disability
Family member with mental illness

Trigger Warnings: abuse, problematic portrayal.

Note: this book has problematic representation and we do not recommend it.

Shadowplay

By Laura Lam

In the second installment of the Micah Grey series, Micah is on the run with his friend and new lover Drystan. They become the apprentices to a famous magician as they hide from the multiple people trying to find them. Micah continues to have visions of magic and horror, which may be foretelling what is to come.

Publisher’s Description:

Old magics are waking. But will the world survive their return?

Micah Grey almost died when he fled the circus with Drystan – now he and the ex-clown seek to outrun disaster. Drystan persuades his old friend Jasper Maske, a once-renowned magician, to take them in. But when he agrees to teach them his trade, Maske is challenged to the ultimate high-stakes duel by his embittered arch-nemesis.

Micah must perfect his skills of illusion, while navigating a tender new love. An investigator is also hunting the person he once seemed to be – a noble family’s runaway daughter. As the duel draws near, Micah increasingly suffers from visions showing him real magic and future terrors. Events that broke the ancient world are being replayed. But can Micah’s latent powers influence this deadly pattern?

Genre: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Steampunk

Representation:
Gender:
Non-binary/genderqueer & intersex: Micah
Cis boys: Drystan

Sexuality:
Bisexual: Micah, Drystan

Romantic Orientation:
Not mentioned in the book. Presumed to be the same as the characters’ sexual orientation.

Race/Ethnicity:
White: Micah, Drystan

Trigger Warnings:
Violence
Illness

Additional Notes:
Drystan and Micah travel to another country and “disguise” themselves magically as Asian. This is more or less a magical version of yellow face and is problematic.

Ownvoices: Ownvoices for bisexuality.