It’s National Library Week, so I’m leaning into book recommendations, but it’s also Earth Day, so here are two new picture books about children on field trips to learn about nature. One centers a nonbinary child named Alex, while the other celebrates natural diversity, neurodiversity, and disabilities—and includes another nonbinary child named Alex.
Click titles or images for full reviews!
Their Name Is Alex, by Paloma O’Toole (Little, Brown): This sweet story shows that gender fluidity exists in nature, emphasizes the importance of seeing such examples, and shows how easy it is for children to welcome genderfluid peers.
Alex is excited about their class field trip to the aquarium “because the fish are all very different from each other”—and sometimes Alex feels different from other people. When the teacher asks the class to think about which sea creature they would like to be, one boy wants to be a jellyfish, like a “ninja ballerina”; one girl, who has a broken arm, wants to be an octopus with eight arms. Alex knows those are “not my fish,” however.
Finally, they see the yellow coral goby, where a sign informs them that “This fish can switch from female to male and back again.” Alex asks the teacher to explain. “Sometimes they are a boy, other times they are a girl, and sometimes they are both,” the teacher says. Alex has a look of wonderment on their face. The next day, when the class does their presentations, Alex explains that the fish sometimes feels like a boy, sometimes a girl, and sometimes isn’t sure, just like Alex.
A classmate asks “So are you a ‘he’ or a ‘she’?” The question doesn’t feel hostile; just curious. Alex explains that sometimes they like one or the other, and sometimes neither; the teacher suggests the class could use “they” for Alex during the latter times. She asks what Alex prefers today, and they answer “they.” Everyone applauds Alex’s presentation.
After school, Alex says goodbye to one of the boys who is leaving with his mother. His mother asks who Alex is, and the boy responds simply, “That’s my friend, Mom. Their name is Alex.”
The book has a clear message, but it’s happily conveyed without anyone questioning or challenging Alex’s identity, including Alex themself. Author/illustrator Paloma O’Toole goes further, too, by showing the other children in the class also connecting with traditionally gender atypical things. The girl who likes octopuses also thinks they are clever and “probably ask lots of questions.” The boy who likes the jellyfish likes them because they are “great dancers” and beautiful as well as strong. Another boy likes axolotls because they have “superpowers” but are also “very gentle.”
Adult readers may know that a goby changing between male and female is actually changing its sex, not its gender, whereas Alex’s fluidity is of gender, but the teacher elides this point in order to make the larger point that traditional binaries (whether of sex or gender) are not always fixed. I’ll trust O’Toole, who is nonbinary, that this resonates for at least some nonbinary people, making this an affirming and recommended tale for those who want a story with a distinct but gentle pedagogic approach.
Together, a Forest: Drawing Connections Between Nature’s Diversity and Our Own, by Roz MacLean (Henry Holt): In this gentle story that celebrates natural diversity, neurodiversity, and disabilities, a child named Joy is excited about her class field trip to a forest. She gets anxious, however, when the teacher says they each have to pick one thing they are drawn to in the forest for an art project.
The book then shows each of the children as they explore in search of their item, using their individual approaches and ways of sensing and communicating. Hakim, for example, zigzags through the forest as his mind zigzags between new discoveries. Sasha pauses with her white cane and listens to the bird calls. Diwa hums and flutters her hands (which readers may recognize as forms of stimming) as she watches the waterfall and fluttering ferns. Adam “makes sense of the world in a slower rhythm,” like the slow-growing cedar. Alex, who “never wants to stop moving,” uses they/them pronouns.
These children and others continue to sense, feel, and explore. Then, just as Joy finds the thing she is drawn to, she falls into the stream—but her classmates are there to help and support her, each in their own way. The book concludes with Joy reflecting on how her classmates are like the ecosystem of the forest, and how much they all depend on each other.
This is a lovely and affirming book that treats differences as beautiful and necessary variety. The children’s different ways of approaching the world aren’t just accepted; they are part of what makes the ecosystem of the classroom work. The lush illustrations immerse readers in the forest world, adding to the impact of this highly recommended title.