Books by Kyle Lukoff

If You’re a Kid Like Gavin: The True Story of a Young Trans Activist

by Gavin Grimm, Kyle Lukoff

A celebratory and empowering story from young trans activist Gavin Grimm, two-time Stonewall Award-winning and Newbery Honor-winning author Kyle Lukoff, and illustrator J Yang follows the true story of how a young boy stood up for himself—and made history along the way. A Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Best Book of the Year!
When you’re a kid like Gavin Grimm, you know yourself best. And Gavin knew that he was a boy—even if others saw him as a girl. But when his school took away his right to something as simple as using the boy’s restroom, Gavin knew he had a big decision to make.
Because there are always more choices than the ones others give you.
Gavin chose to correct others when they got his pronouns wrong. He asked to be respected. He stood up for himself. Gavin proved that his school had violated his constitutional rights and had the Supreme Court uphold his case—bringing about a historic win for trans rights. There are many kids out there, some just like Gavin Grimm, and they might even be you.
What choices will you make?

Too Bright to See

by Kyle Lukoff

A Newbery Honor Book • Winner of the Stonewall Book Award • A National Book Award Finalist

"A gentle, glowing wonder, full of love and understanding." –The New York Times Book Review

Cover may vary.

It's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare. For Moira, this means figuring out the right clothes to wear, learning how to put on makeup, and deciding which boys are cuter in their yearbook photos than in real life. But none of this is all that appealing to Bug, who doesn't particularly want to spend more time trying to understand how to be a girl. Besides, there's something more important to worry about: A ghost is haunting Bug's eerie old house in rural Vermont...and maybe haunting Bug in particular. As Bug begins to untangle the mystery of who this ghost is and what they're trying to say, an altogether different truth comes to light--Bug is transgender.

Too Bright to See

by Kyle Lukoff

A National Book Award Finalist

"A gentle, glowing wonder, full of love and understanding." –The New York Times Book Review

It's the summer before middle school and eleven-year-old Bug's best friend Moira has decided the two of them need to use the next few months to prepare. For Moira, this means figuring out the right clothes to wear, learning how to put on makeup, and deciding which boys are cuter in their yearbook photos than in real life. But none of this is all that appealing to Bug, who doesn't particularly want to spend more time trying to understand how to be a girl. Besides, there's something more important to worry about: A ghost is haunting Bug's eerie old house in rural Vermont...and maybe haunting Bug in particular. As Bug begins to untangle the mystery of who this ghost is and what they're trying to say, an altogether different truth comes to light--Bug is transgender.

I'm Sorry You Got Mad

by Kyle Lukoff

Newbery Honor-winner Kyle Lukoff explores the importance of learning to apologize.

Jack wants to apologize for hurting Zoe's feelings. He just can't seem to find the right words.

Turns out there's more to an apology than just saying "I'm sorry."

Elevated by equally charming illustrations and text, I'm Sorry You Got Mad is a journey in learning the importance of an apology that goes deeper than just words.

My Little Golden Book About Pride

by Kyle Lukoff

This nonfiction Little Golden Book is a beautifully illustrated reminder to be proud of who you are. Each page of this introduction to the history of Pride and the rainbow flag features scenes of diverse people, couples, and families celebrating one another.

My Little Golden Book About Pride offers a way for families with young children to begin addressing themes of diversity and equality. It does so with an introduction to the history of Pride parades and the meaning behind each color of the LGBTQ+ rainbow flag.

There’s No Such Thing as Vegetables

by Kyle Lukoff

A hilarious new picture book that exposes vegetables for what they truly are―leaves, roots, flowers, and stalks―by National Book Award Finalist and Newbery Honor winner Kyle Lukoff, perfect for fans of the Our Universe series.

Chester plans to have a salad for lunch, but in order to do that, he'll need vegetables. So, off he goes to the community garden, except he quickly learns that he won't be dressing a salad anytime soon. Instead, the vegetables start dressing him down. According to them, "vegetables" don't exist!

I know what you are thinking: What the bell pepper? Vegetables are totally real! But here's the thing: Kale is just a leaf, broccoli is a flower, potatoes are roots, and celery...well, stalks. Thanks to a lively, sassy cast of talking "veggies," Chester learns a valuable lesson about categories and how they shape our understanding of the world.

With a slyly informative text and illustrations that will crack readers up, the schooling in There's No Such Thing As Vegetables will be easy to digest and is a total treat.

A Storytelling of Ravens

by Kyle Lukoff

“A charming tribute to the quirkiness of collective nouns … puns and wordplay abound.” ― Foreword, starred review
A sloth of bears, a smack of jellyfish, a nuisance of cats ― these are some of the surprising and idiosyncratic names we have for groups of animals. Inspired by the evocative possibilities of collective nouns, also called “terms of venery,” author Kyle Lukoff and illustrator Natalie Nelson have created a picture book full of clever wordplay and delightful illustrations. Each spread features a nugget of a story using a particular term, which is accompanied by a collage illustration that serves as the visual punch line.
But where did these unusual names come from? Many of them can be traced back to a book on hunting, hawking and heraldry, printed in 1486 ― the Book of St. Albans, which has been reproduced many times since.
A Storytelling of Ravens provides a unique opportunity to explore and rejoice in the oddities of the English language.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4
Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7
Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7
Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

A Little Bit Super: With Small Powers Come Big Problems

by Gary D. Schmidt, Nikki Grimes, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Pam Muñoz Ryan, Linda Sue Park, Mitali Perkins, Ibi Zoboi, Leah Henderson, Kyle Lukoff, Daniel Nayeri, Pablo Cartaya, Meg Medina, Remy Lai, Brian Young

None

A World Worth Saving

by Kyle Lukoff

A groundbreaking, action-packed, and ultimately uplifting adventure that intertwines elements of Jewish mythology with an unflinching examination of the impacts of transphobia, from Newbery Honor-winner Kyle Lukoff

“Kyle Lukoff has given us something rare and beautiful—a novel that combines wondrous fantasy, searing real-world relevance, and a frank empathetic understanding of the adolescent experience that hits so viscerally I can only compare it to the way my generation experienced Judy Blume. The way Lukoff combines these elements in a page-turning adventure is nothing short of magic!” —Rick Riordan, author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Covid lockdown is over, but A’s world feels smaller than ever. Coming out as trans didn’t exactly go well, and most days, he barely leaves his bedroom, let alone the house. But the low point of A’s life isn’t online school, missing his bar mitzvah, or the fact that his parents monitor his phone like hawks—it’s the weekly Save Our Sons and Daughters meetings his parents all but drag him to.

At SOSAD, A and his friends Sal and Yarrow sit by while their parents deadname them and wring their hands over a nonexistent “transgender craze.” After all, sitting in suffocating silence has to be better than getting sent away for “advanced treatment,” never to be heard from again.

When Yarrow vanishes after a particularly confrontational meeting, A discovers that SOSAD doesn’t just feel soul-sucking…it’s run by an actual demon who feeds off the pain and misery of kids like him. And it’s not just SOSAD—the entire world is beset by demons dining on what seems like an endless buffet of pain and bigotry.

But how is one trans kid who hasn’t even chosen a name supposed to save his friend, let alone the world? And is a world that seems hellbent on rejecting him even worth saving at all?

When Aidan Became a Brother

by Kyle Lukoff

Stonewall Book Award Winner - American Library Association (ALA)
This sweet and groundbreaking picture book, winner of the 2020 Stonewall Book Award, celebrates the changes in a transgender boy's life, from his initial coming-out to becoming a big brother.
When Aidan was born, everyone thought he was a girl. His parents gave him a pretty name, his room looked like a girl's room, and he wore clothes that other girls liked wearing. After he realized he was a trans boy, Aidan and his parents fixed the parts of life that didn't fit anymore, and he settled happily into his new life.
Then Mom and Dad announce that they're going to have another baby, and Aidan wants to do everything he can to make things right for his new sibling from the beginning--from choosing the perfect name to creating a beautiful room to picking out the cutest onesie. But what does "making things right" actually mean? And what happens if he messes up? With a little help, Aidan comes to understand that mistakes can be fixed with honesty and communication, and that he already knows the most important thing about being a big brother: how to love with his whole self.
When Aidan Became a Brother is a heartwarming book that will resonate with transgender children, reassure any child concerned about becoming an older sibling, and celebrate the many transitions a family can experience.

Call Me Max (Max and Friends Book 1)

by Kyle Lukoff

★ American Library Association 2021 Rainbow Book List Selection
When Max starts school, the teacher hesitates to call out the name on the attendance sheet. Something doesn’t seem to fit. Max lets her know the name he wants to be called by―a boy’s name. This begins Max’s journey as he makes new friends and reveals his feelings about his identity to his parents. Written with warmth and sensitivity by trans writer Kyle Lukoff, this book is a sweet and age-appropriate introduction to what it means to be transgender.

Are You a Friend of Dorothy? The True Story of an Imaginary Woman and the Real People She Helped

by Kyle Lukoff

Two starred reviews!

From Newbery Honor and Stonewall Book Award–winning author Kyle Lukoff and celebrated picture book illustrator Levi Hastings comes an “venturesome, refreshingly frank” (Booklist, starred review) picture book about how people found community in a time when they had to keep their true selves secret.

“Are you a friend of Dorothy?”

In a time when the LGBTQ+ community was forced to hide in the shadows, a woman named Dorothy helped her people find each other in the dark and celebrate themselves in the light.

But who was Dorothy? Was she from the neighborhood, someone’s wife, mother, or sister? Was she that clever writer, who threw parties where there were no rules about who you could and couldn’t dance with? Or was she a girl from Kansas, who dreamed of leaving her black-and-white, small-town life and finding a vibrant, colorful world that loved her?

Dorothy might have been all these things—because Dorothy, as known by the post-WWII queer community, wasn’t real. Still, she helped a community find connection and care amidst adversity.

Awake, Asleep

by Kyle Lukoff

A rhythmic, meditative read-aloud about the extraordinary beauty found in babies' and toddlers' everyday moments, written by Stonewall and Newbery Award-winning author, Kyle Lukoff--now available as a board book!

A kiss, a blink, a dawn, a break.

A yawn, a peep, a stretch, awake!

From sunup to sundown, a young child's day is bursting with discovery and wonder-filled moments. Follow a day in the life of three diverse families and their little ones, as everyday moments like sharing breakfast and exploring the park are rendered full of love, exploration, joy, and wonder. Sparse, beautiful rhyming text from Newbery and Stonewall Award-winning author Kyle Lukoff is a rhythmic and poetic read-aloud perfect for any time of day, paired against luminous, tender illustrations from artist Nadia Alam.

Showcasing a diverse range of kids, and families that include same-sex parents, single parents, and multigenerational households, Awake, Asleep reflects our world with beauty and joy, rendering the simple moments in a young child's day as transformative, wonder-filled memories.

Now available in a sweet board book edition, this lyrical read-aloud is perfect for bedtime cuddles and cozy storytime all day long!