It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity

Product Information

This book throws around gender terminology without grounding it in any meaning or context, and I can imagine a child reading this and thinking, "Oh, I'm going to be a boy today! This dangerously stupid and misleading book sets out to teach children to think and speak in confused terms about their feelings and it advocates the bizarre possibility that they [or their school friends] may actually be born into the wrong body, a mad, almost medieval proposal that any sane parent would not wish to be promoting to children as young as four. She lives in Los Angeles, California, and It Feels Good to Be Yourself is her first book for children. This book introduces the concept of gender identity to children, explaining the typical terminology that children will encounter in today's society, but despite its good intentions, gentle approach, and message of acceptance, it's likely to confuse more kids than it consoles.

I think one of the easiest selling points is actually the title because it's such a perfect statement that encapsulates so many parts of identity. And with a book that’s perfect for our first Pride Month review: It Feels Good To Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity, written by Theresa Thorn and illustrated by Noah Grigni. That disregards millennia of what it has meant to be human, and suggests that gender is solely a construct of the mind and has nothing to do with bodily anatomy.

Children are invited to examine their own gender identity as easily as they examine their favorite color or food. It is associated with movements to deprive girls of safe spaces, especially single sex school toilets and changing rooms. It undermines parental choice in caring for their children and their ability to refuse experimental and unsafe medical interventions.

Note: A copy of this book was provided to The Baby Bookworm by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. The narrative offers an inclusive primer about gender that integrates vocabulary words and definitions into the texts that is so simplistic that the target audience could understand. An elegant and gorgeously illustrated book about gender identity for young readers and their families! For instance, it displays adults standing about, hands on chin, looking puzzled, unable to decide what the sex of a new baby is, BECAUSE the baby is unable to tell them, so it says they make a guess.This sweet, straightforward exploration of gender identity will give children a fuller understanding of themselves and others. Their art ranges from vibrant watercolor illustrations, to meticulous anatomical drawings, to promotional graphics for activist groups.

When our friend's 11 year old (AFAB) affirmed his identity as a boy, we gave them a copy of the book to share with their friends and it really helped them as well. Theresa Thorn is the cohost of the parenting humor podcast One Bad Mother and the coauthor of You're Doing a Great Job!An informative book, rather than a story, explaining the concept of gender in a way that is straightforward and easy for children to grasp. If one page had said, "George identifies as a sunflower," this would have been consistent with the whole approach.