While comments on this post are still welcome, the contest is now over.
Be Who You Are is a new book out for transgender kids, written by Jennifer Carr and illustrated by Ben Rumback. Carr was kind enough to send me a copy of the book to give away to one of my readers.
The book tells the story of Nick, a child with a boy’s body who feels like a girl inside. His teachers do not understand—but his parents love him just the way he is. Be Who You Are models what it looks like for a transgender child to have a family who is 100% behind him, who seeks out the care required for children so different from their peers to feel wholly themselves. It’s the story of the self-respect that comes when your parents say, “Be who you are…We love you any way you feel.”
Every family of a transgender child should have this book. (Buy your copy here.) I would like to see Be Who You Are on every school bookshelf, in every public library, in every doctor’s waiting room—all the trusted places kids and parents go—so that children like Nick know that they are not alone. This book will introduce the gender-normative world to the idea that there are trans kids out there, and that there are parents who accept and love them. And it shows trans kids that they are okay, that they are loved, and that they are not alone.
In the end, Nick decides that she wants to be called Hope. Carr says, “When her parents called her Hope, she felt right for the very first time.”
Comment below to enter to win your own copy of Be Who You Are. You’ll need to friend me on facebook or leave your email address in the comments so I can contact you if you win.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Y’know, I’d like to see one of these books where it’s a little girl who feels like a boy.
I second this. Does anyone know of any books – or other resources – like this?
This looks like a great book! I am ordering a copy for my children, and it would be fantastic if I could win one to give to my children’s school. Something they definately need at the moment.
If you don’t win it, ask your school to buy it!
Thank you for this beautiful resourse. I do bully prevention work in school, and gender harassment/transphobia is the biggest, deepest, and least addressed issue out there. I look forward to adding this book to my toolkit!
Wonderful. Thank you for the work that you do.
looks fantastic! would love to have a copy in the office, for both pts. and students/trainees.
Great.
Awesome! Can’t wait to check this book out.
damon@dmcconsult.net
http://www.therapistdamon.com
Wow.
Just ordered 3 copies. Can’t wait to read it!
Yay! Thank you for spreading the word.
Would love a copy for my boy and/or his school….will ask them about it this week!
Great. I think the more schools hear that parents want these resources, the more they will pay attention to gender issues. It’s an act of activism just to make the request.
Really curious to check this one out; love the growing number of choices! Thanks for sharing it.
By really strange coincidence I think you have come up with the children’s version of my research paper, just published, about transgender children. I think your book says pretty much the same thing as my paper; have a look and see what you think;
http://www.gjss.org/images/stories/volumes/7/2/3.%20Kennedy%20and%20Hellen.pdf
Fantastic, I look forward to reading it.
Am always being asked, in my role as chair of a Brighton UK based trans support group, for positive books/info for young trans children. Will certainly get a copy if I don’t win one, in fact I know quite a few UK based groups would like a copy. Maybe I’ll try to spread the word around and hopefully get some orders flowing.
Agree with Keltic as well, hopefully someone will produce one.
That’s great, thanks for spreading the word!
Would love to get a copy of this book. Thank you so much!
This looks really interesting. I plan to buy it as a resource for my PFLAG group.
Me too!
So happy to find another great sounding book to help ‘normalise’ the world for my little “boy girl”.
Great idea! Where are all the other books like this?
-Ernesto