• Kindle Singles Top Ten
“I was drawn into this compelling book fast and deep. It’s full of Beam’s usual vitality, and yet almost unbelievably sad. In her first book, in one unsettling paragraph, Cris Beam contemplates how being abandoned by her mother shaped her relationship with the transgirl she fostered. I’ve never known the rest of the backstory, and now that I do, it’s a stake to the heart.” —Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, winner of the National Book Award
“I read Cris Beam’s Mother, Stranger in one sitting, riveted in place, unable to take my eyes off her words. What shines through this wrenching and clear-eyed examination of a child caught inside her mother’s madness is the writer’s courage, her wisdom, her unshakable compassion.” —Alison Smith, author of Name All the Animals
• Junior Library Guild Selection, 2011
• Kirkus, Best Books for Teens, 2011
• American Library Association Best Fiction for Young Adults, and Rainbow List Top Ten, 2011
• Amazon Best books of March, 2011
"Easily the best book to date about...being a transsexual teen...J [is] a multilayered, absolutely believable character." — Booklist (starred review)
"Finally, a book about a transgender teen that gives its central character a life in which gender and transition matter but do not define his existence!" — Kirkus (starred review)
"The novel's greatest strengths are J's voice and his clearly articulated perspective...even readers with little familiarity with transgender issues will find plenty to relate to on an emotional level." — BCCB (starred review)
"J is an especially vivid character...believable and effective." —School Library Journal
• Winner of the 2008 Lambda Literary Award for best transgender book
• A 2008 Stonewall Honor Book
"A gripping, illuminating, and deeply moving portrait of transgender teens in Los Angeles [where] the smallest incidents reverberate sharply." —Publisher's Weekly (starred review)