What do you think?
Being a Super Trans Ally!: A Creative Workbook and Journal for Young People
If you care about making your home, school and community a safer and more accepting place for people of all genders, then this book is for you!
What can you do to be an ally to your transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive friends and family? Everyone needs allies who can support them through challenges, and through engaging with the activities in this book you can develop into an action-oriented Super Trans Ally!
Packed full of activities such as self-reflective questions, journal prompts and role plays, this interactive workbook is perfect for helping young people aged 10+ to reflect on gender, develop their compassion, and discover what skills and talents they can bring to being a Super Trans Ally.
What can you do to be an ally to your transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive friends and family? Everyone needs allies who can support them through challenges, and through engaging with the activities in this book you can develop into an action-oriented Super Trans Ally!
Packed full of activities such as self-reflective questions, journal prompts and role plays, this interactive workbook is perfect for helping young people aged 10+ to reflect on gender, develop their compassion, and discover what skills and talents they can bring to being a Super Trans Ally.
144 pages, Paperback
Published May 21, 2020
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
November 3, 2019
I really wanted to give this book five stars. There's so much about it that's brilliant. The suggested activities are interesting and creative, the language is very positive, it seems like it could be really helpful for young people interested in making the world better for their trans friends and family members. But the definitions near the start of the book are just straight up wrong.
I can't give more than 3 stars to a book that includes a biphobic definition of bisexual. Bi is not attraction to two binary genders. It is attraction to any/all genders, and can be regardless of gender. This is the way it has always been defined by bi activists. There were some other issues with the beginning definitions. The definitions of lesbian and gay seemed to imply that nonbinary people can't identify as lesbian or gay, only as an mspec identity. This is not true. Demisexual is not romantic attraction to one of more genders, it is sexual attraction to someone only after forming an emotional connection. And then, something that really frustrated me since this book is by a trans author about trans people, was the definition of heterosexual being a cis man or cis woman attracted to cis women or cis men. Because trans people, especially binary trans people, can 100% be heterosexual, and a cis man who finds a trans woman attractive is still heterosexual, and vice versa.
There is actually a better glossary at the back, which includes a better definition of bisexual, but it's at the back of the book, where I didn't think to look until the end because I had assumed that the glossary at the front was the only one. I would have preferred if the book had only had the glossary at the back, or had the better glossary at the front. It also seemed odd to have two glossaries with conflicting definitions, especially in a book for young people, because that just screams confusion.
I did like the emphasis on 'super trans ally' rather than just caring friend, and the focus on stepping out of your comfort zone to help your trans friends. Whilst there is a lot of kickback from the LGBTQ+ community online against 'ally cookies', the stars and rewards for allyship work really well in a book aimed at children. There are fun activities like crosswords to help learn definitions, roleplay activities for practicing difficult conversations, and space for the reader to explore their own identity.
Ultimately, I would probably go through and change, or even remove, the beginning definitions before giving this book to someone.
I can't give more than 3 stars to a book that includes a biphobic definition of bisexual. Bi is not attraction to two binary genders. It is attraction to any/all genders, and can be regardless of gender. This is the way it has always been defined by bi activists. There were some other issues with the beginning definitions. The definitions of lesbian and gay seemed to imply that nonbinary people can't identify as lesbian or gay, only as an mspec identity. This is not true. Demisexual is not romantic attraction to one of more genders, it is sexual attraction to someone only after forming an emotional connection. And then, something that really frustrated me since this book is by a trans author about trans people, was the definition of heterosexual being a cis man or cis woman attracted to cis women or cis men. Because trans people, especially binary trans people, can 100% be heterosexual, and a cis man who finds a trans woman attractive is still heterosexual, and vice versa.
There is actually a better glossary at the back, which includes a better definition of bisexual, but it's at the back of the book, where I didn't think to look until the end because I had assumed that the glossary at the front was the only one. I would have preferred if the book had only had the glossary at the back, or had the better glossary at the front. It also seemed odd to have two glossaries with conflicting definitions, especially in a book for young people, because that just screams confusion.
I did like the emphasis on 'super trans ally' rather than just caring friend, and the focus on stepping out of your comfort zone to help your trans friends. Whilst there is a lot of kickback from the LGBTQ+ community online against 'ally cookies', the stars and rewards for allyship work really well in a book aimed at children. There are fun activities like crosswords to help learn definitions, roleplay activities for practicing difficult conversations, and space for the reader to explore their own identity.
Ultimately, I would probably go through and change, or even remove, the beginning definitions before giving this book to someone.
August 1, 2020
This is a good idea, poorly executed. What could have been an interesting exercise for people of all ages instead came off as a juvenile, naive, and in places even possibly harmful glossing over of the issues that trans people actually face in the world, which is especially surprising since the authors of the text are a trans man and a queer woman. While there were several worthwhile thought experiments in the book, a lot of this revolved around a really surface-level examination of trans rights and allyship, and seemed more focused on giving allies "gold stars" (a term repeatedly used within the text) than with actually creating change in the world.
I was especially put off by the second about non-gendered/all-gender restrooms, which the authors seemed to think could be fixed by something as simple as a strongly-worded letter and a pat on one's back. Having been on a committee to create all-gender restrooms for the institution for which I am employed, this completely fails to recognize that it's not as simple as placing a placard outside a door but can often go into state and local ordinances and even the definitions of terms in legal text. I feel like that's a really good example of how this entire book is written: based on experiences and hopes and dreams and with little to no research into the actual realities of allyship and change - and I say that as a trans person.
Furthermore, this book contained several problematic definitions, including an ironically trans/non-binary phobic definition of bisexual, and an inclusion of the words "sapiosexual" and "skoliosexual," which may have valid definitions but are pretty consistently used by allocishet people either as thinly-veiled hatespeech or straight-up fetishizing terms. I get that this book might not exactly be the place to discuss that as, again, it's an incredibly surface-level examination of these topics, but then it might have been better to not include them at all. It also left out any discussion of the terms "masc" and "femme" which seem, in my experience, to be much preferred over more rigid terms like "transman," which is repeatedly used. It also includes a completely wrong-headed reasoning about why not to use "transgendered," which it then extols the reader to go out and share.
Lastly, this book seems really focused on gender expression in repetitive and unhelpful ways. Again, this is used to mild helpful effect early in the book when it's mentioned that a person who now identifies as a transman might still want to wear makeup since they're not completely changing the person that they are, but then seemed to fixate on this idea of "the boy in the dress," or taking your trans loved one shopping to buy new clothes, which implies a lot of unhelpful things, from the fact that clothes are expensive, to the fact that your trans loved one might not feel comfortable in a public shopping experience, to the fact that, again, this is a very "patting oneself on the back" definition of allyship. Again, if this had been a one-off, I'd be like, sure. Some trans people want to go out and buy new clothes and make a big event of it. But this is mentioned no fewer than three times in the text.
If this book were someone's first investigation into non-cisheteronormative gender and sexuality, and they themself were focused on not making a huge gaff when talking to or about trans folks, and that same person were absolutely intending to do a lot of further research, then great. This might be a good foray. Otherwise, I have the sneaking suspicion that this well-intentioned book is just another paving stone on the road to hell.
I was especially put off by the second about non-gendered/all-gender restrooms, which the authors seemed to think could be fixed by something as simple as a strongly-worded letter and a pat on one's back. Having been on a committee to create all-gender restrooms for the institution for which I am employed, this completely fails to recognize that it's not as simple as placing a placard outside a door but can often go into state and local ordinances and even the definitions of terms in legal text. I feel like that's a really good example of how this entire book is written: based on experiences and hopes and dreams and with little to no research into the actual realities of allyship and change - and I say that as a trans person.
Furthermore, this book contained several problematic definitions, including an ironically trans/non-binary phobic definition of bisexual, and an inclusion of the words "sapiosexual" and "skoliosexual," which may have valid definitions but are pretty consistently used by allocishet people either as thinly-veiled hatespeech or straight-up fetishizing terms. I get that this book might not exactly be the place to discuss that as, again, it's an incredibly surface-level examination of these topics, but then it might have been better to not include them at all. It also left out any discussion of the terms "masc" and "femme" which seem, in my experience, to be much preferred over more rigid terms like "transman," which is repeatedly used. It also includes a completely wrong-headed reasoning about why not to use "transgendered," which it then extols the reader to go out and share.
Lastly, this book seems really focused on gender expression in repetitive and unhelpful ways. Again, this is used to mild helpful effect early in the book when it's mentioned that a person who now identifies as a transman might still want to wear makeup since they're not completely changing the person that they are, but then seemed to fixate on this idea of "the boy in the dress," or taking your trans loved one shopping to buy new clothes, which implies a lot of unhelpful things, from the fact that clothes are expensive, to the fact that your trans loved one might not feel comfortable in a public shopping experience, to the fact that, again, this is a very "patting oneself on the back" definition of allyship. Again, if this had been a one-off, I'd be like, sure. Some trans people want to go out and buy new clothes and make a big event of it. But this is mentioned no fewer than three times in the text.
If this book were someone's first investigation into non-cisheteronormative gender and sexuality, and they themself were focused on not making a huge gaff when talking to or about trans folks, and that same person were absolutely intending to do a lot of further research, then great. This might be a good foray. Otherwise, I have the sneaking suspicion that this well-intentioned book is just another paving stone on the road to hell.
May 31, 2020
Thank you Netgalley for providing me with this digital ARC.
This was a cool book. It's aimed at young people who want to make a difference in their schools and communities.
It is a workbook, so it's designed to be written in. For example, you write down action steps for goals you want to achieve.
I was hoping it would be more of an educational book for people who are not trans, in regards to understanding what the different gender identities are. But that could be just my assumption about the book. The title is how to be an ally, and I guess I really don't have to understand everything in order to still be an ally.
It was hard to truly review this book not having a physical copy, since it is a workbook.
This was a cool book. It's aimed at young people who want to make a difference in their schools and communities.
It is a workbook, so it's designed to be written in. For example, you write down action steps for goals you want to achieve.
I was hoping it would be more of an educational book for people who are not trans, in regards to understanding what the different gender identities are. But that could be just my assumption about the book. The title is how to be an ally, and I guess I really don't have to understand everything in order to still be an ally.
It was hard to truly review this book not having a physical copy, since it is a workbook.
October 29, 2019
⭐⭐⭐ 3 Stars
This book is a good starting point for those who wish to educate themselves about the Trans Community. However, it is not in-depth enough that I think you wouldn’t have to supplement your reading with other books to learn about trans rights and the issues Transgender people face.
I received an E-Arc of the book and therefore I cannot say how well some of the interactive features function as they did not show up well on my kindle app. However, for the most part, they were engaging and did make the reader stop to digest what they had just read and actively apply them to real-world situations.
Overall, I think this book is a good place to start your education and if you combine it with other new releases like Seeing Gender: An Illustrated Guide to Identity and Expression and other non fiction books about gender then I think that you will be on your way to being well educated about Trans Rights and how to be a good Ally.
I received an advance review copy for free via NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily 📚
This book is a good starting point for those who wish to educate themselves about the Trans Community. However, it is not in-depth enough that I think you wouldn’t have to supplement your reading with other books to learn about trans rights and the issues Transgender people face.
I received an E-Arc of the book and therefore I cannot say how well some of the interactive features function as they did not show up well on my kindle app. However, for the most part, they were engaging and did make the reader stop to digest what they had just read and actively apply them to real-world situations.
Overall, I think this book is a good place to start your education and if you combine it with other new releases like Seeing Gender: An Illustrated Guide to Identity and Expression and other non fiction books about gender then I think that you will be on your way to being well educated about Trans Rights and how to be a good Ally.
I received an advance review copy for free via NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily 📚
June 29, 2020
I really wanted to like this interactive workbook for children and young adults about how to be an ally to transgender, non-binary and gender-expansive friends and family, and make the home, school and community a safer and more accepting place for people of all genders, and it does have many positives, but unfortunately, it also has several problems that need to be revised for future editions.
1) In explaining the different gender identities, it just launches in assuming you'll understand the differences between trans", non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, gender expansive and gender fabulous.
2) After a while, there is a glossary, but this contains several incorrect definitions and is completely different to another, better and more accurate glossary featured at the end of the book, which is rather confusing. For example, the definitions of lesbian and gay seemed to imply that nonbinary people cannot identify as lesbian or gay. The definition of demisexual is not a romantic attraction to one or more genders, it is a sexual attraction to someone only after forming an emotional connection. The definition of heterosexual is given as a cis person attracted to another cis person of the opposite binary gender, which completely excludes trans people attracted to cis/trans people of the opposite binary gender and cis people attracted to trans people of the opposite binary gender, who are also 100% heterosexual!
3) I know it needs to be simple enough for younger readers, but I didn't feel it was in-depth enough. Although it covers standing up to judgmental comments, it doesn't really cover the full spectrum of issues and lack of rights that trans" people face and how to be an ally with regard to these (e.g., activism re: bathroom bills, gender recognition, etc).
4) Some of the exercises were mixed up, very long and difficult to engage with, or did not feel particularly relevant to the topic.
This is a good starting point, but it and other books on the subject could and should do better.
1) In explaining the different gender identities, it just launches in assuming you'll understand the differences between trans", non-binary, genderqueer, genderfluid, gender expansive and gender fabulous.
2) After a while, there is a glossary, but this contains several incorrect definitions and is completely different to another, better and more accurate glossary featured at the end of the book, which is rather confusing. For example, the definitions of lesbian and gay seemed to imply that nonbinary people cannot identify as lesbian or gay. The definition of demisexual is not a romantic attraction to one or more genders, it is a sexual attraction to someone only after forming an emotional connection. The definition of heterosexual is given as a cis person attracted to another cis person of the opposite binary gender, which completely excludes trans people attracted to cis/trans people of the opposite binary gender and cis people attracted to trans people of the opposite binary gender, who are also 100% heterosexual!
3) I know it needs to be simple enough for younger readers, but I didn't feel it was in-depth enough. Although it covers standing up to judgmental comments, it doesn't really cover the full spectrum of issues and lack of rights that trans" people face and how to be an ally with regard to these (e.g., activism re: bathroom bills, gender recognition, etc).
4) Some of the exercises were mixed up, very long and difficult to engage with, or did not feel particularly relevant to the topic.
This is a good starting point, but it and other books on the subject could and should do better.
May 23, 2025
*got an arc*
I really like requesting books from NetGalley about people with marginalised identities because I love learning new things, and want to make sure I don't accidentally spout harmful information.
I agree with other reviewers that this book is well-intended and does have some good information, but that it sometimes misses the mark. Bisexual is the attraction to two *or more* genders, not just two (and this is a pretty serious error to make). I think this is part of a bigger issue with this book that while it is aimed to kids 10+, it reads like it is trying to explain things to an audience much younger than that. Things are simplified when they should not be, and if I were reading this as a tween I would be pretty put off by the tone of the book. I'm glad it discusses how important racism is, but felt overall the book had a lot of potential it didn't quite meet.
I really like requesting books from NetGalley about people with marginalised identities because I love learning new things, and want to make sure I don't accidentally spout harmful information.
I agree with other reviewers that this book is well-intended and does have some good information, but that it sometimes misses the mark. Bisexual is the attraction to two *or more* genders, not just two (and this is a pretty serious error to make). I think this is part of a bigger issue with this book that while it is aimed to kids 10+, it reads like it is trying to explain things to an audience much younger than that. Things are simplified when they should not be, and if I were reading this as a tween I would be pretty put off by the tone of the book. I'm glad it discusses how important racism is, but felt overall the book had a lot of potential it didn't quite meet.
June 9, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to give this a read! What an interesting workbook! I had trouble deciding where I lie with this book, as some of the language and definitions used are not as eloquent as others in the queer community might be used to. However, it is worth mentioning that this is aimed at young readers and the goal is to make them as accepting of an ally as possible. As an older reader and a queer person, I can’t possibly understand how this would be interpreted by a younger reader, but I think it accomplishes the goal of helping an ally grow that we in the community would be proud of!
July 29, 2020
This book is such a great idea! A guide for children and young people who want to know how to support a friend or family member who is trans and/or non-binary, or who want to make their school more accepting of trans people. It has lots of activities with thought provoking questions. There are worksheets, role plays and quizzes, as well as suggestions of practical things to do.
It felt like it could have done with a bit more editing at times as it could be quite long and rambling. But overall, it's a really useful and unique book and hopefully a second edition will have the benefit of a bit more editing.
[Free ARC from NetGalley]
It felt like it could have done with a bit more editing at times as it could be quite long and rambling. But overall, it's a really useful and unique book and hopefully a second edition will have the benefit of a bit more editing.
[Free ARC from NetGalley]
June 10, 2020
Being a Super Trans Ally is superb! This is more than a book, this is a guide for people who care. Every page of this is filled with information on how to be the best ally possible to trans friends and family. The voice throughout is friendly and yet informative, raising issues from everyday life through the form of quizzes, role play and with loads of space to fill in your own thoughts. This is definitely aimed at junior years, and a great intro for younger allies. I particularly like how the book gives advice on how to use your voice in certain scenarios. When purchasing, a hard copy of this book would be important due to the formatting and the nature of the quizzes and sections to fill in your own thoughts.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the digital copy.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read the digital copy.
June 6, 2020
It is difficult to find text, articles or books to help others learn how to support those that are transgender. I am so excited this resource is available for families, educators and all youth. This makes it easier to educate anyone who may have questions about being transgender and want to be an ally or advocate for the people they love.
June 9, 2022
Being a Super Trans Ally! is a great resource for not only young people but for teachers, parents, and therapist to learn about compassion, acceptance and inclusion and the difficult challenges trans individuals face.
As a psychologist and former LGBTQ+ Coordinator for the Veterans Administration in Georgia, I highly recommend this book.
As a psychologist and former LGBTQ+ Coordinator for the Veterans Administration in Georgia, I highly recommend this book.
May 26, 2023
“Everyone is a unique universe.” This is the title of chapter 2, and it typifies this book’s expansive and practical approach. An excellent resource!
Read
January 13, 2020Queer content: written for cis allies of trans youth
Not library-friendly due to the amount of fill in the blanks, quizzes, etc.
Not library-friendly due to the amount of fill in the blanks, quizzes, etc.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews