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  • Book cover of Some of the Parts
    T Cooper

     · 2002

    In sparse, evocative prose, Cooper tells the story of people: Isak, a 'gender freak' to the world at large; Taylor, simultaneously perfect yet useless, and paralysed; mother Arlene, lonely and pill-popping; and Arlene's brother Charlie, facing the unexpected prospect of being healthy with HIV. Four fractured lives lived in various forms of exile eventually join to re-forge a definition of family from the ashes.

  • Book cover of Real Man Adventures
    T

     · 2012

    A few years ago, the novelist T Cooper wrote his parents a letter telling them he “wasn’t their daughter anymore.” And that was the “good news.” Real Man Adventures is Cooper’s brash, wildly inventive, and often comic exploration of the paradoxes and pleasures of masculinity. He takes us through his transition into identifying as male, and how he went on to marry his wife and become an adoring stepfather of two children. Alternately bemused and exasperated when he feels compelled to explain all this, Cooper never loses his sense of humor. “Ten Things People Assume I Understand About Women But Actually Don’t,” reads one chapter title, while another proffers: “Sometimes I Think the Whole of Modern History Can Be Explained by Testosterone.” A brilliant collage of letters, essays, interviews (with his brother, with his wife, with the parents of other transgender children), artwork, and sharp evocations of difficult conversations with old friends and puzzled bureaucrats, Real Man Adventures will forever change what you think about what it means to be a man.

  • Book cover of Forever

    In this series finale “the suspense is high, the plot is irresistible . . . fast-paced and wonderfully, forcefully loud about privilege” (Kirkus Reviews). When we left Kim Cruz in Changers Book Three, she’d just come out to her best friend. In Changers Book Four: Forever, Kim discovers that this is only one small part of understanding who she is and where she belongs. Soon enough, she changes again, into the body and social status of her dreams. What she does with her newfound power will come to haunt her. In this “bang-up ending to the series,” our hero learns what it means to be the person everybody loves without actually being known at all; what it’s like to be given the benefit of the doubt when you don’t deserve it; and how easily opportunity comes when you look the part (Books YA Love). Changers Book Four explores what it means to find yourself—even as your self keeps changing—and how in the end we become the person whose story we want to finish. Praise for the Changers series “Changers should appeal to a broad demographic. Teenagers, after all, are the world’s leading experts on trying on, and then promptly discarding, new identities.”—The New York Times Book Review “Something unique and exciting . . . I would highly recommend Changers to anyone looking for something a little different to read, as well as to anyone who is interested in a really cool discussion about gender and sexuality.”—The Guardian

  • Book cover of Drew

    First in the “imaginative” series—“a moving story about gender, identity, friendship, bravery, rebellion vs. conformity, and thinking outside the box” (School Library Journal). Changers Book One: Drew opens on the eve of Ethan Miller’s freshman year of high school in a brand-new town. He’s finally sporting a haircut he doesn’t hate, has grown two inches since middle school, and can’t wait to try out for the soccer team. At last, everything is looking up in life. Until the next morning. When Ethan awakens as a girl. Ethan is a Changer, a little-known, ancient race of humans who live out each of their four years of high school as a different person. After graduation, Changers choose which version of themselves they will be forever—and no, they cannot go back to who they were before the changes began. Ethan must now live as Drew Bohner—a petite blonde with an unfortunate last name—and navigate the treacherous waters of freshman year while also following the rules: Never tell anyone what you are. Never disobey the Changers Council. And never, ever fall in love with another Changer. Oh, and Drew also has to battle a creepy underground syndicate called “Abiders” (as well as the sadistic school queen bee). And she can’t even confide in her best friend, who can never know the real her, without risking both of their lives . . . Winner of the 2015 Westchester Fiction Award A New York Public Library Summer Reading Pick “A thought-provoking exploration of identity, gender, and sexuality . . . an excellent read for any teens questioning their sense of self.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  • Book cover of Oryon

    “An excellent sequel . . . This installment raises the stakes, making the story not just about physical and emotional transformation, but about survival.” —School Library Journal Changers Book Two: Oryon in the four-part Changers Series for young adults finds our hero Ethan/Drew on the eve of her second metamorphosis—into Oryon, a skinny African American skater boy with more swagger than he knows what to do with. Enter a mess of trouble from the Changers Council, the closed-minded Abiders, the Radical Changers (RaChas), and his best friend Audrey—at least she was his best friend when Oryon was Drew—and now, it’s complicated. But that’s life (and life, and life, and life) for Changers, an ancient race of humans who must live out each year of high school as a completely different person. Before next summer, Oryon will learn what it means to be truly loved, scared spitless, and at the center of a burgeoning national culture war. Most of all, he will learn again how much the eyes of the world try to shape you into what they see—and how only when you resist do you clearly begin to see yourself. “This completely unique perspective of someone experiencing life as part of a less privileged group of people makes this book pretty special . . . good fun to read.” —The Guardian “Oryon’s humor and insight will keep readers turning pages.” —Kirkus Reviews “A fun yet thought-provoking young-adult story . . . Dealing with themes of difference, loyalty, resisting authority, and finding one’s true self, this book is a fun and easy read.” —OutSmart

  • Book cover of Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes
    T. Cooper

     · 2006

    A postmodern family saga by one of America’s freshest literary voices Upon landing at Ellis Island in 1903, Esther and Hersh Lipshitz discover their son Reuven is missing. The child is never found, and decades later, Esther becomes convinced that the famous aviator Charles Lindbergh is her lost boy. Esther’s manic obsession spirals out of control, leaving far-reaching effects on the entire Lipshitz lineage. In the present, we meet T Cooper—the last living Lipshitz—who struggles to make sense of all that came before him and what legacy he might leave behind.

  • Book cover of A Fictional History of the United States (with Huge Chunks Missing)

    Cooper & Mansbach team with some of today’s most talented writers to vitalize American history. “This is a ‘people’s history’ with tongue in cheek: delightfully funny, imaginative, but with a subtle undertone of seriousness. I enjoyed it immensely.” —Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States History is distorted the moment it’s recorded—and in these politically dishonest times, challenging the stories we’re told is more important than ever. In this groundbreaking anthology of original fiction, a diverse group of America’s best writers takes on the task of creating counter-narratives to mainstream American history. Here are some of the moments and the people left out of the textbooks. Here is what else happened—on the margins of American life, and in between the lines of our history books. A Fictional History of the United States with Huge Chunks Missing brings together an eclectic array of celebrated authors and cartoonists to create a patchwork, anecdotal history of this complicated country. From the Chinese discovery of America in 1426 to the new McCarthyism of a post–9/11 world, this collection recasts everything from the moon landing to the Lindbergh kidnapping, westward expansion to the sexual proclivities of Civil War officers. Riveting, inventive, and politically vital, this anthology picks up—and yanks on—America’s supposed commitment to seeking the truth . . . even if that truth is revealed in fiction. Original stories & artwork by: Daniel Alarcon, Amy Bloom, Kate Bornstein, Alexander Chee, T Cooper, Keith Knight, Ron Kovic, Paul La Farge, Felicia Luna Lemus, Adam Mansbach, Valerie Miner, Tommy O’Malley, Neal Pollack, David Rees, Sarah Schulman, Darin Strauss, and Benjamin Weissman.

  • Book cover of The Beaufort Diaries
    T Cooper

     · 2010

    A polar bear tries to go green--in Hollywood, with Leonardo DiCaprio--in an outrageous tale that includes equally outrageous full-color illustrations. JUST A SMALL TIME BEAR, LIVING A LONELY WORLD: What happens when an arctic refugee finds himself adrift in LA-LA Land? Behold Beaufort's rocket rise to stardom, his inevitable crash and burn, his enduring friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio, and his painful journey to redemption and bear-awareness. Turns out when you're a dying breed in Hollywood, it's tough to go with the floe.

  • Book cover of Contemporary Druidry: A Historical and Ethnographic Study

    Contemporary Druidry is one of the fastest growing religions in Western society. This book addresses the attempt by practitioners to bring an ancient spirituality into the mainstream. It examines ancient Druid beliefs and critiques the contemporary expression by comparing the two. Relying on eight years of research and more than 200 interviews, the book provides an outsider's look at this faith

  • Book cover of Electric Literature

    A literary anthology featuring writing by: Michael Cunningham Jim Shepard T. Cooper Lydia Millet Diana Wagman