Books like Wandering Son - Volume Five by Takako Shimura

A coming-of-age story exploring gender identity in middle school.

Shimura Takako's sensitive and charming manga series about two middle-schoolers wrestling with their gender identities continues. Faced with unwanted changes to their growing bodies, male-identified Takatsuki-san discovers the wonders of "breast binders," and female-identified Nitori-kun explores the limits of his ability to "pass." Also: the success of their performance of The Rose of Versailles in the fifth grade - in which the boys played the women and the girls played the men - inspires our protagonists to put on another gender-bending play for the junior-high school festival. They riff on Romeo and Juliet. Nitori-kun and his friend Chiba-san write the script together, but Chiba-san has an agenda: She wants to play Romeo, with Nitori-kun in the role of Juliet. But Nitori-kun wants Takatsuki-san to play Romeo. Chiba-san forces Nitori-kun to confront a question he's been avoiding. Are his feelings for Takatsuki-san those of a boy for a girl, a girl for a girl, or a girl for a boy? Meanwhile, Maho plans a trip to the beach with her boyfriend, and Nitori-kun must chaperone.

Nitori-kun gets his first signs of acne. This may well be the end of the world. But when he turns to nationally famous model Anna-chan for help, events take an unexpected turn. Meanwhile, Nitori-kun and Chiba-san are scouted by the theater club after the success of their gender-bending play, The Rose of Versailles. But when Takatsuki-san congratulates Chiba-san, Chiba-san calls her a hypocrite. If Takatsuki-san wanted to join the theater club, she wouldn't congratulate Chiba-san -- she'd be jealous. So says Chiba-san, but what does she know?

"Kosei's return to the stage as Kaori's accompanist was a complete disaster. He couldn't hear the music, he lost track of the tempo, and they stopped and restarted the piece. But it did accomplish one thing: It reminded him the trill of playing for an eager audience. Now Kaori's demandling Kosei enter a piano competition solo, but he's terrified that, alone on the bench, the ghost of his abusive mother will paralyze him yet again ..."--Page 4 of cover.

Curiosity and transphobia collide in the latest volume of Fantagraphics critically acclaimed manga about a boy who wants to be a girl, and a girl who wants to be a boy. In Volume 8, Nitori-kun, a boy who wants to be a girl, explores kissing with girlfriend Anna-chan; and Yoshino-san, a girl who wants to be a boy, finds the courage to go to school wearing a boy s uniform. Meanwhile, one of their male classmates, Doi-kun, who has caused our protagonists misery in the past, becomes intrigued with their grown-up friend Yuki-san, a transwoman.

Mark Waid returns to Riverdale, teaming with fresh artists for a modern Archie graphic novel that sharpens the humor of the classic teenage high‑school tales while keeping the characters family‑friendly.