Children’s Books about Gender Identity and Expression

I listened to this episode of the Girl Next-door podcast recently. Kelsey and Erica talked about their particular strategies for raising boys and girls. It got me thinking about the fact that I don’t feel like I’m living up to my own vision for myself. I strive to be a mom who is very intentional about helping children understand the world in very open and responsible ways. That means I want to talk to them intentionally about race, gender identity and expression, religion, people with disabilities, different family structures, etc. In this post, I’m going to focus specifically on children’s books about gender identity and expression.

Matt and I are always bringing these issues into everyday conversations. However, I find books to be even more intentional and thorough. We have a lot of books in our house about these issues already. Why aren’t we reading them?

I guess it’s because the boys get to pick their books each night. And they aren’t picking those books! I need a new solution.

I think I might bring up this conversation during our next Family Meeting. I’ll let them know that I have specific books that I love that I would like to have the opportunity to share with them. We can brainstorm ideas together. Maybe I get to pick the book on Sunday night. Maybe we add a Sunday morning read aloud into our routine. We’ll see what they come up with!

In the meantime, I want to be prepared with the list of books I want to read.

Children’s Books about Gender Identity and Expression

• A Fire Engine for Ruthie
• I Am Jazz
• Oliver Button is a Sissy
• One of a Kind, Like Me / Único Como Yo
• The Gender Wheel: A Story about Bodies and Gender for Every Body (there is a version where the children are clothed; I’m getting the naked one)
• Sex is a Funny Word
• Big Bob, Little Bob

After going through this process, I’m changing my approach. I think I’m just going to make a basket with a bunch of different books. It will include these books related to gender identity and expression, as well as books from the other categories mentioned above. I’ll keep the basket by my bed. When we all find ourselves in my bed (usually Saturday and Sunday mornings), I’ll offer, “Should we read a book from my basket?” And then I will let them pick. If I find that they are always picking the same books and not getting to other issues, I’ll simply remove those books from the basket and not make that choice available for a while.