Publishing company Scholastic has just released one of the first children’s books to deal with transgender issues.
Aimed at Grades 3-7, the book is authored by Alex Gino who who identifies as genderqueer and uses they/them/their pronouns.
On its Web site, Scholastic describes the book as:
BE WHO YOU ARE.
When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she’s not a boy. She knows she’s a girl.
George thinks she’ll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte’s Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can’t even try out for the part . . . because she’s a boy.
With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte — but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.
“I wrote it because it was the book I wanted to read,” Gino told The New York Times. “I wanted trans voices telling trans stories.”
Scholastic is aiming to turn the book into a mainstream success. It increased the first printing to 50,000 from 35,000 based on strong preorders and sent Alex to meet with booksellers and librarians at the ABC Children’s Institute in Pasadena, Calif., and at BookExpo in New York. They hired Jamie Clayton, a transgender actress, to narrate the audiobook.
