Mom, I Need to be a Girl by Evelyn D. Lindenmuth (Just Evelyn) ; Andrew Wahrmund -Illus - 1998

Imperial Beach Calif: Walter Trock Publishing. New 1998. First Edition. Softcover. Marfree, acidfree Fine 1stEd w/ photo & illus -- gift qual; no names, not marked-in, underscored, clearance or discard. Mails from NYC usually within 12 hours. ; 116 pages; \nThis is NOT a Children's Book! Feb 16, 2005\nReviewer: Samantha A. Perrin (Ottawa, Canada) - \nThis out of print book is written by the mother of a young transsexual. Highly readable, it is the heartwarming account of how Evelyn helped her new daughter, Danielle, negotiate her way through the various social institutions in the USA. The book contains useful advice for parents & transgendered children on how to deal with family, schools, the medical profession, & day to day life. Evelyn wisely advises: "Let your teen make the decisions about his or her life whenever possible. Keep a sense of humour & use lots of hugging. " She also notes that if transgendered kids see themselves as "brave & proud" others are less likely to view them as outcasts. \nAlthough seems to have placed this book in the Children's Section, it is definitely NOT a child's book. Written in a language that any high school student should be able to comprehend completely, it is primarily a book for the parent of a transsexual child to read. It chronicles the extreme difficulties faced by a single mother of a transsexual teenage boy transitioning to womanhood. The reader will quickly become angered at the politics& the incompetence in the medical establishment, particularly in the psychiatric arena where so-called experts…\n\nThis book is a MUST READ for every adult with a transsexual child. I firmly believe there should be a copy in every public library, & on the bookshelf of every counsellor, psychiatrist & psychologist. \n\nDefinitely a children's, and parents' book, April 10, 2006\nReviewer: Unwillingly a "boy" for 18 years - \n…Yes, suited for children of nine & upwards, & younger in exceptional circumstances. It is also suited for parents, teachers, & other caring professionals... \nAlthough the book is now long out of print some copies do get offered for resale & are worth securing for key libraries & collections. The author has also, for the sake of those who need the information, need to know, permitted the book to be made available on the Internet, for free, but without the photographs. For which there is a reason - the privacy of her daughter. \nThe book is real, rather than "heart-warming", although the outcome is good, candidly telling the problems, mostly with "caring professions", the family faced & largely overcame. Many of those problems are the same today in many locations, unless the right connections can be accessed, the wrong people avoided. \nSome prescribers will intervene in time to prevent a child having to face the painful & prolonged facial hair removal detailed, or the pubertal drop of the voice, excess height, excess foot size, etc. , that might have been suffered (or breast growth & menstruation in the case of transsexual boys) . The best surgeons will now accept 16-year-olds for surgery if both parents agree, & there is utterly convincing evidence that the child has been living, including with the appropriate hormonal regime, as the sex of identity for a substantial time. In other words that the child absolutely needs & desires the surgery, has full support, & the surgeon's legal position is secure. Thus the tortured & exploitative need the family in the book suffered, trying to collect, as a "qualification", letters from a succession of "mental health professionals" who had no experience in the field but basically took advantage of the chance to project their uninformed opinions & prejudices upon the child & their family, can be avoided. Which is not to say there are no able & supportive professionals. \nSo the book should be taken as a warning as well as an example, indeed an historical record, of how a case of transsexuality can be experienced, treated, & survived. A very important & valuable book. .