Before Words

"Whereas most literacy assessments for children who do not yet read involve decoding and phonics skills, reading wordless picture books presents an opportunity to evaluate and encourage young children's comprehension and meaning-making skills and introduce them to narrative"--

At the beginning of his physical transition from female to male, then-seventeen-year-old Skylar Kergil posted his first video on YouTube. In the months and years that followed, he recorded weekly update videos about the physical and emotional changes he experienced. Skylar’s openness and positivity attracted thousands of viewers, who followed along as his voice deepened and his body changed shape. Through surgeries and recovery, highs and lows, from high school to college to the real world, Skylar welcomed others on his journey. Before I Had the Words is the story of what came before the videos and what happened behind the scenes. From early childhood memories to the changes and confusion brought by adolescence, Skylar reflects on coming of age while struggling to understand his gender. As humorous as it is heartbreaking and as informative as it is entertaining, this memoir provides an intimate look at the experience of transitioning from one gender to another. Skylar opens up about the long path to gaining his family’s acceptance and to accepting himself, sharing stories along the way about smaller challenges like choosing a new name and learning to shave without eyebrow mishaps. Revealing entries from the author’s personal journals as well as interviews with members of his family lend remarkable depth to Skylar’s story. A groundbreaking chronicle of change, loss, discovery, pain, and relief, Before I Had the Words brings new meaning to the phrase “formative years.”

First English-language collection of David Huerta; includes the premier translation from his masterpiece, Incurable.

This is the author's third collection of poems. Wenthe meditates on family, language, art, history, and the natural world, striving to find words to capture the richness of life.--Publisher description.

William Wenthe's third collection begins in the domestic realm then moves outward in subject and place -- to a bird market in Paris, the Jaffa Gate in Old Jerusalem, the Chain Bridge in Budapest -- before returning to the familial. The poet recalls his own cherished experiences of fatherhood: rocking his infant daughter in the early morning, lying with her outside on a pink flannel sheet, and watching her joyous reaction to the sight of roses. While actively engaged in the artist's struggle to represent reality, Wenthe draws attention to the particular, to moments and events that seem to exist beyond thoughts and words. In "Uhte," Wenthe reflects on the Old English name for the hour before dawn: "that word / has haunted me -- wondering how that hour / had first called forth a need / to be distinguished by a sound." In well-crafted free verse, traditional meter and rhyme, prose poems, and nonce forms, Wenthe meditates on family, language, art, history, and the natural world, striving to find words to capture the richness of life.

Presents photographs and interviews taken between 1987 and 1993 of unknown actors and actresses including Johnny Depp, Keanu Reeves, Melanie Griffith, and David Duchovny

Includes extra sessions.