Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon

“The best way to eliminate a group is to demonize them, such that their disappearance is seen as an act of justice, not discrimination.”  These words from the forward of Beyond the Gender Binary could appear in any book about New York City youth experiencing detainment.  Vaid-Menon uses this short and powerful frame to challenge the reader to shake oneself from the ignorance and complicity of transphobia.  Trans folks, non-binary people, and students with friends and family members whose identities go beyond the gender binary will find this book essential.  Which is to say: everyone. --Jessica Fenster-Sparber

Vaid-Menon, Alok.  Beyond the Gender Binary.  New York: Penguin Random House, 2020. ebook.

Click here for a short interview with the author from the publisher.

Ain’t Never Not Been Black by Javon Johnson

 Yes!   Your students will want to read this very of-the-moment book of poems by Dr. Javon Johnson, award-winning slam poet and Director of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.  Johnson’s writing couldn’t be more accessible,  more honest, or more powerful.  Dense and tight, there is nothing extraneous here.  Highly recommended for proficient readers ages 14 and up. 

Johnson, Javon.  Ain’t Never Not Been Black.  Button Poetry, 2020. ebook.

Click here and scroll down to the third lesson for a compare and contrast lesson plan utilizing Johnson’s “Cuz He’s Black” poem and King’s “I Have a Dream Speech.”