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Gender Identity for Kids: A Book About Finding Yourself, Understanding Others, and Respecting Everybody!
Help kids make sense of who they are and how they feel with this illustrated guide to understanding and answering questions about gender.
What is gender and what does it mean to you? What are ways people express their gender? What if you don’t feel like the gender everyone says you are? This new resource is here to help kids make sense of who they are and how they feel.
As you grow up, you receive lots of messages about gender. Most kids start to define their own gender identity as early as age four! But what if the messages you receive don’t seem to describe you? What if the things you like don’t match who people say you are? What if you don’t even know what gender you are?
From the illustrator behind What Are Your Words? and other books on gender and personal identity, comes a resource for all kids, of any gender. This fun, heavily illustrated chapter book explains the basics of gender identity—what it is, what it means, and how to support yourself and others no matter who you are.
What is gender and what does it mean to you? What are ways people express their gender? What if you don’t feel like the gender everyone says you are? This new resource is here to help kids make sense of who they are and how they feel.
As you grow up, you receive lots of messages about gender. Most kids start to define their own gender identity as early as age four! But what if the messages you receive don’t seem to describe you? What if the things you like don’t match who people say you are? What if you don’t even know what gender you are?
From the illustrator behind What Are Your Words? and other books on gender and personal identity, comes a resource for all kids, of any gender. This fun, heavily illustrated chapter book explains the basics of gender identity—what it is, what it means, and how to support yourself and others no matter who you are.
96 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 6, 2023
2 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 18, 2023
Content warnings are listed at the end of my review!
This feels like a The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls style guide but for a slightly younger audience and slightly more care into intersectionality- and similarly, it's something that could be a good enough eye opening resource to start the ball rolling for important introspection and education that you can foster crucial conversations on. It touches quite a few bases, only touching lightly on each topic because of it, but it does a balanced job of not being too vague or specific for the most part allowing the flow to work alright. You can't leave this in a kids room and expect them to have a grip on everything, but if you give this to them, it'll help start them in the right direction.
We get the basics and we get them done right, and I really can't ask much more from a book like this. Lots of definitions with sparse quick examples as time allows, because this book is a brisk jog, but it runs through gender and sex differences, gender stereotypes, kinds of genders, social constructions of gender and harmful enforcement (this gets clunky, clearly), gender expression, and some quick stuff thrown in at the end. The start is neat enough, but near the latter half the sections seem a bit more like a run on sentence instead of fully fleshed out ideas. Overall, it's pretty open-minded and inclusive, it does a good job being pretty mindful, and does a lot to uplift the reader.
Summary:
Readability: ★★★★☆, Simple baseline information provided just fine, although it is a lot of text to digest. It'll work just fine for flipping through to find an answer for a curious kid, but also works for reading like a book, though it's not particularly exciting that way because there's a lot to take in.
Entertainment: ★★★★☆, A generous 3.5? The illustrations were nice and so were the definition boxes, but I could have used more font formatting like bold, italic, underline, and highlighting used. Some pages were just walls of text to digest, which is fine, but for a kids book more illustrations and graphics could go a long way.
Audience: I think this could be an essential and make a huge difference to have accessible for young readers, this will give them no questions asked basics. I strongly recommend.
Content Warnings: fear, gender stereotyping, misgendering, pregnancy, sexism, transphobia
This feels like a The Care & Keeping of You: The Body Book for Girls style guide but for a slightly younger audience and slightly more care into intersectionality- and similarly, it's something that could be a good enough eye opening resource to start the ball rolling for important introspection and education that you can foster crucial conversations on. It touches quite a few bases, only touching lightly on each topic because of it, but it does a balanced job of not being too vague or specific for the most part allowing the flow to work alright. You can't leave this in a kids room and expect them to have a grip on everything, but if you give this to them, it'll help start them in the right direction.
We get the basics and we get them done right, and I really can't ask much more from a book like this. Lots of definitions with sparse quick examples as time allows, because this book is a brisk jog, but it runs through gender and sex differences, gender stereotypes, kinds of genders, social constructions of gender and harmful enforcement (this gets clunky, clearly), gender expression, and some quick stuff thrown in at the end. The start is neat enough, but near the latter half the sections seem a bit more like a run on sentence instead of fully fleshed out ideas. Overall, it's pretty open-minded and inclusive, it does a good job being pretty mindful, and does a lot to uplift the reader.
Summary:
Readability: ★★★★☆, Simple baseline information provided just fine, although it is a lot of text to digest. It'll work just fine for flipping through to find an answer for a curious kid, but also works for reading like a book, though it's not particularly exciting that way because there's a lot to take in.
Entertainment: ★★★★☆, A generous 3.5? The illustrations were nice and so were the definition boxes, but I could have used more font formatting like bold, italic, underline, and highlighting used. Some pages were just walls of text to digest, which is fine, but for a kids book more illustrations and graphics could go a long way.
Audience: I think this could be an essential and make a huge difference to have accessible for young readers, this will give them no questions asked basics. I strongly recommend.
Content Warnings: fear, gender stereotyping, misgendering, pregnancy, sexism, transphobia
June 27, 2023
This was a very clearly-written, accessible guide to gender identity, covering sex vs. gender, the gender binary, challenges that one might likely face when challenging the gender binary and how to find support, and more. Andy Passchier's cute illustrations add a sense of buoyancy, and their text is friendly and upbeat. I would recommend this to parents, teachers, counselors, etc. who need a primer as much as I would recommend it to kids.
July 29, 2024
This made my teacher heart very happy! Highly recommend for young people in your life. It's very clearly a book that is not just for gender-expansive kiddos, but also for cis kids who want to better understand these buzz words they hear all the time.
February 22, 2024
read for children's lit. this book did a great job at making huuge concepts easily digestible. the illustrations add a lot to the text as well.
December 15, 2024
Not only does this book talk about gender identity, but it also talks about patriarchy, colonization, and intersectionality. What a book.
June 30, 2023
Trash
This is the most ridiculous book I have ever seen aimed at children. We are born with a sex and chromosomes that determine it. XX or XY, how you “feel” does not change this, there is absolutely no scientific data to say that gender identity even exists separate from sex. If this is a book for children it is just a way to get their heads full of non proven ideas and confuse them. I the last 10 years the incidence of suicides in children with this ideas in their head has increased dramatically. This book should never be recommended for children it is dangerous!
This is the most ridiculous book I have ever seen aimed at children. We are born with a sex and chromosomes that determine it. XX or XY, how you “feel” does not change this, there is absolutely no scientific data to say that gender identity even exists separate from sex. If this is a book for children it is just a way to get their heads full of non proven ideas and confuse them. I the last 10 years the incidence of suicides in children with this ideas in their head has increased dramatically. This book should never be recommended for children it is dangerous!
November 26, 2023
The illustrations are cute, but it's full of false information, which makes me wonder if there's no fact checking requirements for children's books- for example, on page 50, it says
"Western colonization brought about the gender binary as we know it."
and then: "Indigenous cultures have always had their own way of defining and categorizing gender. The gender binary as we experience it today started in Europe and white Europeans spread it to other continents and islands through colonization. "
What the book doesn't want to admit is that most cultures traditionally have viewed gender as binary and also don't separate gender from sex. Places like China, Korea, most of the Middle East, Africa, etc don't have a "third gender". When people say "man" or "woman" in any language, they're generally talking about biological sex, not what someone feels like they are.
The author also doesn't seem to believe in objective truth/reality- on page 40, she writes: "Sometimes as you grow up, labels and feelings change, and you might feel like you want to switch from one to another or from something to nothing. All of these are okay! You know yourself best."
Under that, is an illustration of a little girl in 4 different life stages with different gender identities floating above her head- as a child (???), as a teen (trans man), as an adult (nonbinary agender), as a senior (genderfluid). Below the illustration the text says:
"The only "right or "correct" option is where you feel the happiest and the most comfortable in your own skin."
And then a checklist that says:
❏ RIGHT
❏ WRONG
☑ HAPPY!
Imagine if you taught this to children when it came to anything else- there's a condition called Body Integrity Dysphoria (or Body Integrity Identity Disorder) that can start from childhood that makes a person want to be physically disabled. Is it okay to get your leg amputated later on in life if personal happiness is the truth?
"Western colonization brought about the gender binary as we know it."
and then: "Indigenous cultures have always had their own way of defining and categorizing gender. The gender binary as we experience it today started in Europe and white Europeans spread it to other continents and islands through colonization. "
What the book doesn't want to admit is that most cultures traditionally have viewed gender as binary and also don't separate gender from sex. Places like China, Korea, most of the Middle East, Africa, etc don't have a "third gender". When people say "man" or "woman" in any language, they're generally talking about biological sex, not what someone feels like they are.
The author also doesn't seem to believe in objective truth/reality- on page 40, she writes: "Sometimes as you grow up, labels and feelings change, and you might feel like you want to switch from one to another or from something to nothing. All of these are okay! You know yourself best."
Under that, is an illustration of a little girl in 4 different life stages with different gender identities floating above her head- as a child (???), as a teen (trans man), as an adult (nonbinary agender), as a senior (genderfluid). Below the illustration the text says:
"The only "right or "correct" option is where you feel the happiest and the most comfortable in your own skin."
And then a checklist that says:
❏ RIGHT
❏ WRONG
☑ HAPPY!
Imagine if you taught this to children when it came to anything else- there's a condition called Body Integrity Dysphoria (or Body Integrity Identity Disorder) that can start from childhood that makes a person want to be physically disabled. Is it okay to get your leg amputated later on in life if personal happiness is the truth?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 31, 2023
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A helpful guide for understanding and discussing gender identity. Promotes acceptance, respect, and understanding.
The book covers sex vs. gender, gender identity, the gender binary, gender expression, and difficulties related to gender such as coming out, mental health, and bullying.
The explanations and definitions are child-friendly. Passchier's illustrations were adorable and helped liven up the text. They also introduce characters with different genders, pronouns, and gender expressions to show examples of various concepts.
Each chapter includes break out definitions, and ends with a summary of the content and questions to reflect on. There are also further resources listed at the back, including workbooks, picture books, and resources for adults supporting gender creative kids.
Passchier provides a nice balance in presenting the information in a positive and empowering way while also discussing some of the hardships and negativity one may face.
Overall, a wonderful resource to help learn terms, reflect on ones own gender, and become more comfortable discussing gender.
A helpful guide for understanding and discussing gender identity. Promotes acceptance, respect, and understanding.
The book covers sex vs. gender, gender identity, the gender binary, gender expression, and difficulties related to gender such as coming out, mental health, and bullying.
The explanations and definitions are child-friendly. Passchier's illustrations were adorable and helped liven up the text. They also introduce characters with different genders, pronouns, and gender expressions to show examples of various concepts.
Each chapter includes break out definitions, and ends with a summary of the content and questions to reflect on. There are also further resources listed at the back, including workbooks, picture books, and resources for adults supporting gender creative kids.
Passchier provides a nice balance in presenting the information in a positive and empowering way while also discussing some of the hardships and negativity one may face.
Overall, a wonderful resource to help learn terms, reflect on ones own gender, and become more comfortable discussing gender.
June 29, 2023
An absolutely perfect book explaining gender identity to kids. It uses language that is appropriate and understandable to kids. Any time they use a term that is more complex, they have a little pull out blurb breaking down the word. Also the joke about gender roles where the kids say "I prefer pizza rolls" and "I prefer cinnamon rolls" made me giggle. While this book is aimed for kids, I also think it is an excellent book to give adults with trans family members or friends, as it explains everything in a really clear and concise manner, without it ever feeling like you are being talked down to. As a genderqueer librarian I am so grateful for this amazing book and Andy's other works. It is so important to have these resources available for lots of different ages!
October 19, 2023
This was both informative and cute, written in an admirably age-sensitive, ”here are the basics”, yet very respecting manner. Read it first by myself and then translated for my kid.
The highlight for Neo, surprise surprise, was that there was a picture of a dinosaur on page 63 <3 but the kid, too, really liked the book in general as well (”FIVE STARS!”). Good, long conversations were had all around.
Now please translate this asap into all languages, including Finnish, because there are so many adults in my kid’s life/our lives that really need to read a book like this. Not to name any… buuut not the least many of the health care professionals we’ve so far been assigned to on various occasions, some of the teachers at my kid’s school, our extended family, etc.
The highlight for Neo, surprise surprise, was that there was a picture of a dinosaur on page 63 <3 but the kid, too, really liked the book in general as well (”FIVE STARS!”). Good, long conversations were had all around.
Now please translate this asap into all languages, including Finnish, because there are so many adults in my kid’s life/our lives that really need to read a book like this. Not to name any… buuut not the least many of the health care professionals we’ve so far been assigned to on various occasions, some of the teachers at my kid’s school, our extended family, etc.
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July 10, 2023What is gender and what does it mean to you? This Pride Month, enjoy the beautiful illustrations and beautiful message in GENDER IDENTITY FOR KIDS by Andy Passchier.
Read the full review on BookTrib.com
Read the full review on BookTrib.com
August 26, 2023
Really excellent and kind introduction to gender identity, appropriate for elementary school kids. I appreciated the diversity in the illustrations — not just diverse races, but also differing abilities and a variety of body shapes.
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December 21, 2023Great book for easy to understand explanations. I'm an adult and I read this to educate/understand better myself.
October 2, 2023
This book is both cute and informative. Both my kids loved it and told me that there were concepts in it that they found particularly useful to understanding gender. Highly recommended.
January 8, 2025
Clear and concise information, love the care it takes in ensuring the people who might be reading this book are taking their time and not being overwhelmed. Includes very well thought-out questions to help kids better explore themselves and I appreciate the variety of people in the illustrations throughout this book.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews