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books on transgendered people for kids?

Hey mamas,

Was wondering if someone could help me out here.

dd is 5.5. She's been around trans people quite often, although we don't have any close friends who are trans. She understands that clothes don't necessarily determine which gender a person is and that gender lines aren't rigid male-female.

I don't think I've done that great a job explaining trans issues to her because, well, frankly, it hasn't come up as a big issue.

The other day, she told me that at her day camp, she mentioned that boys *can* wear dresses. (I don't know if this was in response to anything that was said by another kid or an adult) One of the teachers told her that boys do NOT wear dresses. Period.

I was wondering if any of you know of or have books about transgendered people and how gender really isn't just male-female for kids that young.

(Because we're not close with any of the out trans people that we know and none of them (so far) have seemed good with kids, I'm not comfortable pointing out people as obvious examples and have her badger them with questions. Kind of like asking people of color to educate others about racism, if you know what I mean. So I'd rather use a book or two to open up dialogue about the issue and maybe also clarify in my mind how I talk about gender when talking to her and how *she* can talk about gender and how other people talk about gender but, just because they're grown-ups doesn't mean that they're right and she's wrong)

By PhoenixRising at 07/31/2006 - 10:59pm | More Stuff to Discuss! | previous forum topic | next forum topic

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dd actually knew of a book!

although I don't think that she really understands what all the fuss in it was about:

http://www.amazon.com/X-A-Fabulous-Childs-Story/dp/0448157152

She got it read to her at one of the many anarchist things that China and I presented at this year.

It's out of print and expensive (well, maybe $25 is going price for a new kids' book these days), but here's the text of it:

http://www.trans-man.org/baby_x.html

She also borrowed a book from a series called "Pinky and Rex" about a boy named Pinky who is called that because pink is his favorite color. Rex is his best friend and a girl (and yellow is her favorite color). The book that she brought home one night was about how Pinky was getting bullied by an older boy because he wears pink, likes pink, is named Pinky AND plays with girls:

http://www.amazon.com/Pinky-Rex-Bully-Ready-Read/dp/0689808348/sr=1-3/qid=1161988094/ref=sr_1_3/002-4901346-9670441?ie=UTF8&s=books

(Lest you think otherwise, I'm not endorsing amazon as a place to buy books. It was just the easiest place to link to so that you mamas can get more of a sense as to what I'm talking about)

By PhoenixRising at Fri, 10/27/2006 - 10:34pm |

no way!

I'm such an idiot, I was there for the reading of that book!

the organizer of kidz corner in Boston brought it to read, from her childhood I think, it was a treasured book of hers - and she really wanted to read it, and Siu Loong was like, I don't know, so I said, "Read it to me" and then siu loong and another individual or two all pulled in close and heard the book. and I drank tea. it rocked. That was the only time I spent in the kids corner there... I just forgot about it! I think it would be worth it to get for a well stocked library - cuz its kinda vintage, 70s or something, in my memmory.

Pinky and Rex sounds pretty awesome too

By China at Sat, 10/28/2006 - 3:58pm |

i would be interested in

i would be interested in what you find. google or ... ask the workers at feminist bookstore - gay community center or activist organization.

If not, maybe clover could write one. I mean, she could draw the pictures .. she is really into illustrating things lately - and perhaps we could ask the transpeople we know in the city and ask savy lj friend from SF. Maybe I will just ask her now...

. . .

doing a search, I found no such books. I did find http://www.ifge.org/books/our_trans_children.htm - which is a pamphlet for parents, the opposite dirrection, but it looked interesting to me

YOU know - it might be interesting to make a picture book on gender. I bought clover a book called "The Family of Women" when she was tiny because I wanted her to be able to flip through and look at all the various women, around the world, old and young, naked, happy, unhappy, ect. I think picture books are cool. How about a gender picture book?
,,,,

or - this is old school and not what you are looking for, but I came across the poem "cat in an apron" and its a good one
http://www.geocities.com/terry_stewart/FreeToBe.html#CatInAnApron

By China at Sun, 08/06/2006 - 3:48pm |

there is a coloring book on

there is a coloring book on gender/gender roles - "Girls Will Be Boys Will Be Girls..."

here's the soft skull page (the new revised version):
http://www.softskull.com/detailedbook.php?isbn=1-932360-62-X

and here's the official website of the authors:
http://www.girlsnotchicks.com/

(i was going to mention this before but didn't, since it isn't really about transgendered people...but we wound up on the topic anyway.)

----------
tenderfoot zine * mamaphiles!

By tenderfoot at Mon, 08/07/2006 - 3:11am |

sparkle shoes

Fertile Ground sent out a comic about a little boy and his favorite red sparkle shoes...???
a start.
---med school mama

By med school mama at Sun, 08/06/2006 - 1:28am |