Table Of ContentYouth Fiction and
Trans Representation
Youth Fiction and Trans Representation is the first book that wholly
addresses the growth of trans and gender variant representation in
literature, television, and films for children and young adults in the
twenty- first century. Ranging across an array of media—including pic-
ture books, novels, graphic novels, animated cartoons, and live-action
television and feature films—Youth Fiction and Trans Representation
examines how youth texts are addressing and contributing to ongoing
shifts in understandings of gender in the new millennium. While perhaps
once considered inappropriate for youth, and continuing to face back-
lash, trans and gender variant representation in texts for young people
has become more common, which signals changes in understandings of
childhood and adolescence, as well as gender expression and identity.
Youth Fiction and Trans Representation provides a broad outline of
developments in trans and gender variant depictions for young people
in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries and closely ana-
lyzes a series of millennial literary and screen texts to consider how they
communicate a range of, often competing, ideas about gender, identity,
expression, and embodiment to implied child and adolescent audiences.
Tom Sandercock is a casual academic at Deakin University, Austra-
lia, where he teaches courses in literary studies, children’s literature,
and gender and sexuality studies. He was awarded Deakin Univer-
sity’s Vice-Chancellor’s Prize (2013), was a recipient of an Australian
Postgraduate Award scholarship (2013–2016), and his PhD thesis was
shortlisted for Deakin University’s Alfred Deakin Medal (2018). He has
authored several peer-reviewed articles and book chapters on gender and
sexual representation in television, film, and literature.
Children’s Literature and Culture
Jack Zipes, Founding Series Editor
Philip Nel, Series Editor, 2011–2018
Kenneth Kidd and Elizabeth Marshall, Current Series Editors
Founded by Jack Zipes in 1994, Children’ s Literature and Culture is the
longest-running series devoted to the study of children’s literature and
culture from a national and international perspective. Dedicated to pro-
moting original research in children’s literature and children’s culture,
in 2011 the series expanded its focus to include childhood studies, and it
seeks to explore the legal, historical, and philosophical conditions of dif-
ferent childhoods. An advocate for scholarship from around the globe,
the series recognizes innovation and encourages interdisciplinarity. Chil-
dren's Literature and Culture offers cutting-edge, upper-level scholarly
studies and edited collections considering topics such as gender, race,
picturebooks, childhood, nation, religion, technology, and many others.
Titles are characterized by dynamic interventions into established sub-
jects and innovative studies on emerging topics.
Poetics and Ethics of Anthropomorphism
Children, Animals and Poetry
Christopher Kelen and Chengcheng You
The Figure of the Child in WWI American, British,
and Canadian Children’s Literature
Farmer, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Elizabeth A. Galway
Youth Fiction and Trans Representation
Tom Sandercock
Representations of Children and Success in Asia
Dream Chasers
Edited by Shih-Wen Sue Chen and Sin Wen Lau
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.
routledge.com/Childrens-Literature-and-Culture/book-series/SE0686
Youth Fiction and
Trans Representation
Tom Sandercock
Cover image: Photo by Luis Quintero from Pexels
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Tom Sandercock
The right of Tom Sandercock to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78
of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from
the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be
trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for
identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-12728-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-12732-3 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-22596-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003225966
Typeset in Sabon
by codeMantra
For Dylan
Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Transgender Studies and
Children’s Literature 1
1 Gender Nonconformity in Picture Books 23
2 Trans Children in Picture Books 43
3 Politicizing Gender in Young Adult
Graphic Narratives 61
4 Show and Tell: Authoring the Trans Subject in
Young Adult Fiction 78
5 Animating Gender: Subversive Gendering in
Children’s Cartoons 92
6 Loving and Hating Trans Youth in
Adolescent Television 109
7 Manning Up and Womanning Down in Young
Adult Gender-Disguise Films 129
8 Embodying Difference: Gender and Race in
Young Adult Body-Swap Films 150
Conclusion 171
Bibliography 175
Index 193
Acknowledgments
The research for this book took place on the lands of the Wurundjeri
and Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin nation, and I pay respects to
Elders, past and present.
This book began its life as my doctoral thesis funded by an Austra-
lian Postgraduate Award and was supported by many people in different
ways who I would like to thank: my supervisor Ann Vickery, for your
support, insight, and friendship; Elizabeth Bullen and Clare Bradford,
for making time to provide guidance on this project over the years;
Kenneth Kidd, Kerry Mallan, and Erica Hateley, for your detailed and
constructive feedback; the Deakin University Library and hardwork-
ing librarians, especially Marina Minns, for persistent help in locating
research materials; my colleagues, mentors, and peers who helped in
one way or another over the years, including Cecilia Rogers, Michelle
Smith, Trish Lunt, Liz Parsons, Elizabeth Braithwaite, Mark Macleod,
Laura Gobey, Sue Chen, Paul Venzo, Kristine Moruzi, Daniel Marshall,
Andrew Dean, Gilbert Caluya, Cassandra Atherton, Lyn McCredden,
Geoff Boucher, Jack Kirne, Rebecca Hutton, Tory Tedeschi, Lara Hed-
berg, Emma Whatman, Emma Hayes, Lenise Prater, Kate Norman, and
Juliet O’Conor.
Special thanks go to my family: my parents, Ann and Peter, for your
love and support; Abby, Luke, Celeste, Kathy, Bernie, George, and all my
beautiful niblings, for the joy you bring to my life; Tina, Craig, and Jake,
for making me part of your family; and Bandit, for taking me out for a
walk every day and reminding me when it’s time for bed. More gratitude
than I could put into words goes to Dylan Holdsworth who helped me
the most. Final thanks go to my teacher and friend, Kate McInally. I miss
you and will always marvel at your brilliance and compassion.
A version of Chapter 6 was previously published as ‘Transing the Small
Screen: Loving and Hating Transgender Youth in Glee and Degrassi’ in
the Journal of Gender Studies, vol. 24, no. 4. This issue was republished
by Routledge as the edited book Diversity in Gender and Visual Repre-
sentation (eds. R Luyt, C Welch & R Lobban in 2017).
