{"id":2838,"date":"2019-11-03T13:38:41","date_gmt":"2019-11-03T21:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=2838"},"modified":"2020-12-14T14:27:28","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T22:27:28","slug":"book-review-it-feels-good-to-be-yourself-a-book-about-gender-identity-by-theresa-thorn-and-noah-grigni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/book-review-it-feels-good-to-be-yourself-a-book-about-gender-identity-by-theresa-thorn-and-noah-grigni\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book about Gender Identity, by Theresa Thorn and Noah Grigni"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Thorn, Theresa (author) and Noah Grigni (illus.). <a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldcat.org\/title\/it-feels-good-to-be-yourself-a-book-about-gender-identity\/oclc\/1123215332\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><em>It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book about Gender Identity<\/em><\/a>. 2019. $17.99. 45p. HC. 978-1-250-30295-3.<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-2839\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Thorn-It-Feels-Good.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"326\" height=\"328\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Thorn-It-Feels-Good.png 326w, https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Thorn-It-Feels-Good-139x140.png 139w, https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Thorn-It-Feels-Good-144x144.png 144w, https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Thorn-It-Feels-Good-60x60.png 60w, https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Thorn-It-Feels-Good-220x220.png 220w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 326px) 100vw, 326px\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As a youth librarian who mostly serves children birth-5, I read a <em>lot <\/em>of picture books ? typically at least 10-20 new titles each week. Some make me laugh, others make me cry. Some become favorites, others are quickly forgotten. But a select few truly resonate with me ? both the part of me that?s still a child and the 30-year-old still trying to figure out my life. Theresa Thorn?s May release, <em>It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book about Gender Identity<\/em> recently joined those exclusive ranks.<\/p>\n<p>A non-fiction title geared toward children 3-9 years old, <em>It Feels Good to Be Yourself <\/em>tackles gender identity in the simplest yet sweetest way, providing a jumping-off point into a topic many caregivers find daunting. The story begins by introducing Ruthie, a transgender girl with brown skin, and her cisgender younger brother, Xavier. From there, we meet Alex ? a light-skinned child who is both boy and girl, and for whom no pronouns are used ? and Alex?s friend JJ ? a brown-skinned child who uses a wheelchair, is neither boy nor girl, and uses they\/them pronouns.<\/p>\n<p>While these four children are the only ones identified within the text, Thorn is careful to point out there ?are a never-ending number of ways to be yourself in the world,? and Noah Grigni?s accompanying #ownvoices illustrations showcase a wide-range of gender expressions. The lush colors of Grigni?s art are reminiscent of <em>From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea <\/em>(2017) ? a title recommended in this book?s ?helpful resources? ? but without the fantastical setting. Also featured in Thorn?s back matter are a glossary of terms and note about pronouns, both useful resources to assist caregivers in handling this topic with sensitivity.<\/p>\n<p>All told, <em>It Feels Good to Be Yourself <\/em>is a much-needed, refreshing addition to library shelves. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n<p>-Kate Frick, Darien Library<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thorn, Theresa (author) and Noah Grigni (illus.). It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book about Gender Identity. 2019. $17.99. 45p. HC. 978-1-250-30295-3. As a youth librarian who mostly serves children birth-5, I read a lot of picture books ? typically at least 10-20 new titles each week. Some make me laugh, others make me [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1197,"featured_media":2973,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[32,105,21],"tags":[254,305],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}