A Goldenflower

Commission Info Here! 

"It Feels Good To Be Yourself. A book about gender identity" written by Theresa Thorn and illustrated by Noah Grigni. The cover shows the four main characters, one is a transgender girl, two are nonbinary in different ways, and one is a cis boy who is the little brother to the trans girl.

I typically don't read the kids books even when they are super cute but this one I HAD to read. So I start reading. And I just--

Here's a few pages: (short image description below)

Quick image description: Above are 5 pictures I took of pages that I really liked and made me extra happy. The first two are back to back pages of the book's introduction of JJ, who is a wheelchair user and is "neither a girl or a boy" and uses they/them pronouns. This is the text from the next two back to back pages depicting the four friends playing outside and coloring on the sidewalk: "Some kids don't feel exactly like a girl or a boy -- they feel like neither. Some kids feel like their gender identity isn't always the same -- it's often changing." [Next page] "And even with all these possible ways to be, some kids don't feel like any of the words they know fit them exactly right. There are a never-ending number of ways to be yourself in the world." The last page shows Ruthie after she came out to her parents as transgender. Her whole family (mom, dad, little brother, her, and a dog on the side) are hugging. The text reads "Oops! Ruthie was a girl all along -- they just didn't know it at first." End ID.

SO OBVIOUSLY IM ALMOST SOBBING AT WORK NOW OMG

This book is absolutely beautiful and so sweet and I encourage everyone to go see if they can borrow it at their library. It's a quick 2-3 min read, maybe 15 if you start getting emotional like my queer little heart did. I'm assuming there's a regular print version more widely available, and maybe a LT version too, and if my Hawaii library has a copy of the braille version I'm guessing others already have it too.

OH AND HERE'S THE BACK COVER I DIDNT NOTICE UNTIL AFTER I PROCESSED IT AND THIS PART REALLY GOT ME OKAY (text written below)

IT EVEN HIGHLIGHTS THE ULNA BONE  

Arm view: Red = Deltoids (all three heads are in one color) Blue = Latissimus Dorsi Green = Biceps Brachii Yellow = Triceps Brachii

Forearm: Red = One of the wrist flexors Blue = Brachioradialis

Back view, left side: Red = Deltoids (all three heads are in one color) Blue = Latissimus Dorsi Green = Infraspinatus, Teres Minor, Teres Major Yellow = Trapezius (all groups one color)