More Body Affirming Kids' Books

Sharing another round up of some body/identity affirming books that I’ve come across lately (and some that are ahead of publication). I’ve covered a bunch of other books on bodies for younger kids (here) and older kids (here) and some food positive books (here). Consider this an update. These aren’t all brand new books, but all from within the last year or so.

And to be clear, these are mostly a reflection of books that *I* think are cool/worth having in your body positive home library. My kid however, couldn’t care less about many of these books. I imagine this will change over time, especially now he’s at preschool, picking up all kinds of ideas from other kids/teachers. I’m sure he will inevitably start asking more questions about bodies and visible differences and disabilities so I’m glad to have these books on hand. This kid also seems to think that fucking Spot is the height of kid’s literature too, so not sure his tastes are totally reliable anyway.

I have linked to these books on Bookshop.org. wherever I can. If you plan on buying any of them you can search for an independent book store near you so that book shop can get some £££ from your purchase. These are not affiliate links. I don’t make any money from you buying these books which feels important for me to tell you, so that you know I am not invested in trying to influence you. These are just books I think will help open up conversations about bodies with your kids.

LFG.

My Own Way - Celebrating Gender Freedom for Kids
Joana Estrela
(Adapted by Jay Hulme)

Age 3-6

A sweet, bright, bold book about smashing the gender binary. I LOVE this book. It’s super colourful and rhymes but isn't super long or too intense. I love the focus on being yourself, and finding joy in who you are, rather than prescribed gender roles.

I don’t know about you, but I find people’s fascination with my kid’s genitals is really fucking weird.Like they don’t know how to treat them unless they know if they’re a ‘boy’ or ‘girl’. People are constantly asking me to define his gender at the playground. Adults, other kids, everyone seems to want to know. One parent once asked me why I dress him ‘like a girl’. I was floored - aside from being a super invasive question, they asked it right in front of my kid. I wanted to have a kid-friendly resource to instill the sense that gender is a social construct, and he doesn’t have to fit neatly into any little box if he doesn’t want to. Why is this important? Prescribed gender roles limit who our kids can be. From before they’re even born, gender norms dictate that anyone AFAB will be dainty sparkly princesses, emotionally attuned to everyone’s needs but their own. And they will learn to perform their femininity by shrinking their body and stifling their voice. Anyone AMAB on the other hand, will learn to outsource their emotional lives to the females who do emotional labour for them. They will be told to be strong, tough, and rugged. All of this is the beginnings of toxic masculinity and sexism, sure, but it also teaches young boys to swallow their emotions, causing lifelong pain and suffering. So yeah, I want my kid to know that (at least in our home) he can be soft and gentle and sensitive and paint his nails and wear pink and that strength is about so much more than physicality. For more thoughts on flipping the gender scripts we hand out kids - check out last week’s awesome supporting subscriber thread on this.

We’ve dipped in and out of this book a few times when he’s had questions about gender and I think it will be one we go back to over and over.

Hello Every Body!
Samantha Curcia

Age 3+

This book was recommended to me by from . It seems like it took a lot of cues from Bodies Are Cool (sadly without the rhyming) but it’s different enough that I think it’s worth having both in your collection. The pictures are bold and engaging and it normalises that there are so many different ways to have a body. I especially love that it discusses things like colostomy bags and that people can have more than two nipples which I don’t see represented very often. Likewise it talks about genitals and breasts in a way that BAC doesn’t so scores some points there. I love that it reinforces the idea that bodies change over time and they’re not static, such a helpful idea to plant at a tender age!