Sweet and affirming, this rhyming picture book encourages each reader to slow down and listen to their heart: “It’s singing …/’This is YOU!'” Don’t be afraid to let your true self show, even if that self is different from other people’s, the book insists. If someone doesn’t like it, sing out even louder about who you are. And if you see others who are lonely or afraid to be themselves, be kind and remind them that it’s okay to be who they are, too.
The book offers two examples of when inner selves may not match what the world sees. One says, “If there’s a princess in the mirror/but your heart knows you’re a king,” illustrated by facing images of the same child playing dress-up as a princess and then a king. This seems to pretty clearly have a transgender boy or gender creative girl in mind. (I’m tagging the book both ways, so readers can find it and choose for themselves how to read it.)
The other example says, “If you were born a butterfly/but inside you’re a bee” and shows a child shedding butterfly wings for bee ones. The intent here is less clear, but is not obviously connected to gender, and I would encourage adult readers not to jump to that conclusion. Most trans people feel they were born as the gender they know themselves to be, so the “born a …” phrasing isn’t accurate and may be offensive. (Different people feel differently about this, though, so always be guided by the individual.) As it stands, however, the text could be used to reflect personal changes of other types.
In both cases, the book urges readers to tell the world who they really are. The book concludes with a spread of many children playing and expressing themselves, and one final reminder to “Be proud and tell the universe …/Hello, this is ME!”
The message is simple, and while it briefly mentions detractors, doesn’t get into what happens when someone persistently objects to who another is, or endangers them by doing so. That makes this book best for the youngest readers, for whom it offers an important message to help build self-confidence and resilience—traits that may help them when and if they encounter bigots and bullies later on.
