{"id":42003,"date":"2024-11-20T23:09:54","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T04:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=42003"},"modified":"2024-11-20T23:09:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-21T04:09:54","slug":"review-of-true-you-a-gender-journey-by-gwen-agna-and-shelley-rotner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=42003","title":{"rendered":"Review of True You: A Gender Journey, by Gwen Agna and Shelley Rotner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>True You<\/p>\n

A Gender Journey<\/em><\/p>\n

by Gwen Agna and Shelley Rotner
\nPhotographs by Shelley Rotner<\/p>\n

Clarion Books (HarperCollins), 2022. 48 pages.
\nReview written December 13, 2022, from a library book
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

Hooray! Shelley Rotner, author and photographer of many gorgeous photo-illustrated picture books, has turned her attention to the beautiful variety of children’s genders. Working with another early childhood educator, the two have written a book that explains gender in a way that children can understand. There are also nine pages of back matter with more information and further resources.<\/p>\n

As with all of Shelley Rotner’s books, the main feature of the book is big, beautiful photographs of active children.<\/p>\n

The book begins:<\/p>\n

We are kids!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Girls, boys,
\nneither,
\nboth,
\nor just not sure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The photos show these kids being joyful, curious, and creative.<\/p>\n

After some introductions, we meet specific kids, with speech bubbles coming from their pictures. The authors interviewed many kids and used their words. Here are a couple of them:<\/p>\n

They thought I was a boy when I was born. But now, sometimes I feel like a girl.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Everyone can dress however they want.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Boys can wear dresses and girls don’t have to.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Another kid —<\/p>\n

When I was born, people said I was a girl.
\nThey were right!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m a girl because I feel like a girl!<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

People should love everybody for who they are. Anyone can play with dolls. All the colors are for everyone. Everybody can be strong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the book says, “Sometimes kids are just being kids — exploring different things!”<\/p>\n

This big beautiful book can touch off accepting and supportive conversations. Whether or not your child is gender-nonconforming, this book will help them understand their peers, with an emphasis on kindness and acceptance. And there are plenty of resources for parents at the back.<\/p>\n

gwenagna.com<\/a>
\nshelleyrotner.com<\/a>
\nharpercollinschildrens.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Childrens_Nonfiction\/true_you.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

True You A Gender Journey by Gwen Agna and Shelley Rotner Photographs by Shelley Rotner Clarion Books (HarperCollins), 2022. 48 pages. Review written December 13, 2022, from a library book Starred Review Hooray! Shelley Rotner, author and photographer of many gorgeous photo-illustrated picture books, has turned her attention to the beautiful variety of children’s genders. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,11,399,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-childrens-nonfiction-review","category-photography","category-starred-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42003"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44542,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42003\/revisions\/44542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}