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Kyle Lukoff is the author of many books for young readers. His debut middle-grade novel Too Bright to See received a Newbery Honor, the Stonewall Book Award, and was a National Book Award Finalist. His picture book When Aidan Became a Brother also won the Stonewall, and his book Call Me Max has been banned in schools across the country. More about this author >
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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 (SOSAD) 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?
In A World Worth Saving, Kyle Lukoff channels lived trans experience into a fierce, mythic quest. A’s harrowing journey of being dragged to “conversion- support meetings” by unsupportive parents becomes a battle against demons feeding off transphobia, aided by a trash-made golem and the wisdom of Jewish mysticism. Raw, messy, and deeply empathetic, this urgent middle-grade fantasy affirms the power of chosen family, sacred identity, and community resistance.
Kyle Lukoff at the 2025 National Book Awards Finalist Reading
