Editor’s note: In previous versions of this story, a quote from Kirstin Cronn-Mills, author of “Beautiful Music for Ugly Children,” was incorrectly worded. It should have read: “People don’t understand those who identify with various gender identities.” A character in Cronn-Mills’ first book was incorrect. Her name is Morgan.

Kirstin Cronn-Mills didn’t set out to write about a transsexual teen. But she did, and in January, her young-adult novel, “Beautiful Music for Ugly Children,” won an American Library Association Stonewall Award for a work of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience.

Cronn-Mills’ significant win in the ALA Youth Media Awards was overshadowed by Minnesotan Kate DiCamillo’s second Newbery Award for “Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures.” But that’s OK with Cronn-Mills.

“Kate had more time to hone her craft than I did,” she says.

“Beautiful Music for Ugly Children” is told in the first person by 17-year-old music-loving Gabe, who gets a job at a radio station thanks to his neighbor John, “the oldest DJ in the universe.”

Gabe hopes his smart best friend, Paige, will fall in love with him. The problem? Everybody knows him as Elizabeth.

My birth name is Elizabeth, but I’m a guy. Gabe. My parents think I’ve gone crazy and the rest of the world is happy to agree with them, but I know I’m right. I’ve been a boy my whole life.

Cronn-Mills, who teaches English and humanities at South Central College in North Mankato, decided in 2005 to write about two of her favorite things — music and radio.

“I thought I’d write about a teenage guy who has a radio show,” she recalls. “At the time, I was preparing for a diversity literature class and ran across Dean Kotula’s book, ‘The Phallus Palace.’ It covers experiences of female-to-male transsexuals, including 20 short autobiographical pieces from transmen. I was awed by their determination to be who they were. Their dedication to themselves inspired me. I thought it would be even more interesting to have a character behind the (radio) mic who happened to be a transperson.”

Cronn-Mills, who grew up in a small Nebraska town, didn’t know anything about what it meant to be transgendered.

“I was lucky to find a Twin Cities gender exploration group. They allowed me to sit in and listen to people talk about gender variant as a teen. That helped me, and I am in debt to people who told me their stories. But the book took a long time to grow before the character of Gabe was ready.”

In a guest column for Malinda Lo website, Cronn-Mills admits she wondered if she did the right thing in writing this book. She did so because she believes that if one of us is oppressed, all of us are oppressed: “Human rights are not open for conversation. And transindividuals (LGBT individuals in general) have their rights kicked around like soccer balls — and they’re never the winning team.” (See her post at malindalo.com/2012/ya-pride-am-i-allowed-to-write-this/.)

A LONG WAY TO GO

“Beautiful Music for Ugly Children” is the third Stonewall Award winner published by Flux, the edgy young-adult imprint of Woodbury-based Llewellyn Publications. The others, which were Honor books, are “Love Drugged” by James Klise (2012) and “Sparks” by S.J. Adams (2013).

“Kirstin’s book made me sit up and pay attention,” said Flux editor Brian Farrey. “The first thing that struck me was Gabe’s painfully authentic voice, the way he reasons through what’s going on in his life. I knew his story was special. It has an interesting heart. GLBT youngsters need to see themselves in books so they know they are not alone.”

Farrey, who won a Stonewall Honor Award and Minnesota Book Award for his 2011 novel “With or Without You,” applauds Cronn-Mills for writing a book that “adds something new to the conversation, opening the door to what other GLBT topics we need to talk about.”

Farrey says the trend in GLBT young-adult literature mirrors what happened in similar novels for adults. The early ones were about fear of discovery and angst surrounding coming out. Recent books feature teens who have come out and are comfortable with their sexuality. Sometimes gender orientation isn’t even an issue.

Cronn-Mills agrees that GLBT young-adult literature is more mainstream today, and she applauds that trend. But she thinks we have a long way to go.

“It’s easy for our culture to wrap our minds around same-sex marriage, but gender is the third rail in terms of that political statement,” she says. “People don’t understand those who identify with various gender identities.”

While gender issues are important in “Beautiful Music for Ugly Children,” music is also at the heart of the story. Gabe, who sometimes channels Elvis Presley, uses records as a metaphor to talk about himself:

When you think about it, I’m like a record. Elizabeth is my A side, the song everybody knows, and Gabe is my B side — not heard as often, but just as good.

“In my head, and Gabe’s, his primary label is music geek, not transkid,” Cronn-Mills explains.

As Gabe’s radio show gains listeners, his fans create the Ugly Children’s Brigade and they begin to think about their own A sides and B sides. Gabe’s radio station, The Vibe, is based on Minnesota Public Radio’s The Current because it has “a wonderful, eclectic playlist,” the author says.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cronn-Mills has taught at Minnesota State University-Mankato, Iowa State University, Concordia School of Accelerated Learning and St. Olaf College. She is faculty adviser for SCC PRIDE (People Really Interested in Diversity Education).

Her husband, Dan, is a professor of speech communication at Minnesota State University-Mankato, and they have a 15-year-old son, Shae, whose soccer team was managed by his mom.

Cronn-Mills’ first novel, “The Sky Always Hears Me and the Hills Don’t Mind,” was also published by Flux. It’s about Morgan, a teen who’s attracted to a guy with a great butt but confused when her best girlfriend kisses her.

The story was inspired by a phone call the author received from a high school classmate she hadn’t heard from in more than 10 years.

“This woman told me she was mean to me in high school because she had a crush on me,” Cronn-Mills recalled. “I thought that explained a lot and it would make a great story. So my first fiction was written in Morgan’s voice. I wrote that book to say that if my classmate had told me about the crush in high school, it would have been OK.”

Cronn-Mills’ list of support organizations for transgendered youth include:

— Reclaim!, 3217 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls.; 612-235-6743; reclaim-lgbtyouth.org/

— Trans Youth Support Network, 3405 Chicago Ave. S., Mpls.; 612-208-9762; transyouthsupportnetwork.org/)

Book critic Mary Ann Grossmann can be reached at mgrossmann@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5574.