Are you a Boy or Are you a Girl ?
Wow !!! What a fab book !!! Those who have read my blog before will know that this is the first review of a book that I’ve done. So if you are new to my blog, and this not up to the same quality of other reviews you’ve read, then sorry up front. Regulars will also understand that I use regularly the term ‘Trans’ as an umbrella term to cover the full spectrum of the trans community and that I myself identify as Fluid/non-binary. So, here goes ......... The book is aimed at young kids, to be read with parents, and invites them to think outside the standard box of what is a boy or a girl. I read this with my six-year-old daughter at bedtime and she really enjoyed the story, and the questions posed at the end, designed to get the child and in some cases the parent, thinking. Although it dragged bedtime out a little longer than normal, it was interesting to see just how much 18 months in school have affected how my daughter conceives thoughts on gender identity and binary roles. All of this is borne from influences outside our home. She is completely aware that daddy is Trans (Fluid/Non-Binary), and identifies as a boy and a girl, but without doubt she has been introduced to stereotyping in school. This was a great opportunity to allow her to both re-think and re-open debate about gender identity and the exploration of it. It would be fair to say that all primary schools should have this book in their libraries, but I would bet that many don't. The clue to the subject of the book is, of course, in the title and it delivers an idea of a main character, ‘Tiny’, whose gender is unknown. ‘Tiny’ is just a child, and could be any child. Without mention of whether they are a girl or a boy, it beautifully delivers simple details about them, their family and the things they like. The kind of things all kids like, such as playing dress up, how their room is decorated, playing with siblings and the things they experience with friends and at school. Its shows the kids playing in different gender roles and exploring life through play. It shows neutrality in sport, work, home-life and play, demonstrating that none of these things have gender specific requirements, and that all options are open to everyone. Additionally it also introduces kids to the realisation of bullying and discriminative behaviour and delivers simply that its wrong, and that an individuals’ choices don’t have any impact on others and as such are theirs and theirs alone. The real value for children and parents in this book stems from its simplicity, it puts the story across in a grounded manner and invites open discussion. Books of this nature are still not common for the younger age groups and if this book just gets more parents and their kids talking, and they recommend this book to more people again, then it really could make a difference. Not only to how gender non-conforming kids are perceived, but any kids that don’t conform to the stereotypes and expectations that society has kindly of dictated for so long. The authors, Fox Fisher (Co-Author and Illustrator) and Sarah Savage (Co-Author) have collaborated to produce what I feel is an amazing book. It allows and encourages exploration and discussion of gender at a base level that is much needed in today’s world, where despite so many advances being made, acceptance and equal and fair treatment across the board is still not quite there. This book is written from the Authors perspectives and has ambitions to bring about education and change to allow children and parents an opportunity to explore gender variation and discuss and understand what this means. I asked the Author, Fox fisher, what their motivation was for writing the book and their response was “The motivation was to get more trans representation, so that trans kids and gender non-conforming kids can see themselves represented”. The book is available in hard back from Amazon, and I can promise that younger kids will love it and will love talking about it as well, I know mine did. The book is also available as a digital download for Kindle E-Readers and Kindle Apps for other platforms, I’m not sure how well this works for use with children, unless it’s a platform that supports a full range of colour and graphics, on a simple kindle E-reader, I don’t think this would hold the child’s interest. And finally, compared to 30 years ago, there is so much help and support out there and I have included some links here to websites created to assist and support children and parents alike. http://www.mermaidsuk.org.uk http://www.gires.org.uk http://www.mygenderation.com All that’s left is for me to say thanks so much for reading, I really hoped that you enjoyed this post as it’s a little different to my usual stuff, and please check out my other blogs in the archives. Love and hugs Sophie xx If you would like to see more and follow me I can be found and followed at the sites below: Facebook www.facebook.com/beingsophie Twitter www.twitter.com/sophietgirl Bloglovin www.bloglovin.com/blogs/being-sophie-17676297
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AuthorHi, I'm Sophie. I hope you enjoy reading my blog. Please leave some comments on what you think of my blog x Archives
March 2022
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