It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book about Gender Identity by Theresa Thorn, Noah Grigni
Published by Henry Holt & Company on June 4th 2019
ISBN: 1250302951
Pages: 40
Goodreads

It Feels Good to Be Yourself is an informational picture book written by Theresa Thorn and illustrated by Noah Grigni which introduces the concept of gender identity to young children by showing four different children–brother and sister, Ruthie and Xavier, as well as their friends Alex and JJ. Ruthie is a transgender girl and Xavier is a cisgender boy. They both have brown skin, hair, and eyes, and appear to have a black mother and a white father. Alex is non-binary and has blue hair and freckled skin. JJ is also non-binary, with short, brown curly hair. They also use a wheelchair.

Thorn introduces the words transgender, cisgender, and non-binary with simple definitions that tie concretely into one of the four characters shown. Thorn uses language that is digestible even by young audiences but doesn’t talk down to readers or compromise the meaning of what she is describing. Thorn goes on to describe a little more about how genders are assigned and how a child might come to realize that their identity is different or the same to what they have been told to that point in their life. Throughout, Thorn reassures readers that whatever they identify as, however, they express themselves, and however much it all changes, it still okay and that they will be loved no matter what.

The text is accompanied by Noah Grigni’s watercolor, gouache, and ink illustrations, which bring diversity on each page with bold color and lines. The bright color they use invites readers into the story to explore a variety of different ways to express themselves.

The backmatter includes helpful terms to known, a note about pronouns, resources in the form of books for kids, book for adults, documentaries, and organizations/helplines. Both Thorn and Grigni provide a note to readers in the back.

The subject of this book is critical and the execution is sublime. Essential for all libraries.

Reviewed by Sarah Cropley, Scarborough Public Library.