Benny’s True Colors

Benny looks like a bat—but he isn’t. He likes warm sunshine, not dark places, and hates eating bugs. On the inside, Benny knows he’s really a butterfly. He has difficulty doing butterfly moves, though, and longs for beautiful butterfly wings. A friendly group of butterflies helps him practice flying like a butterfly, though. When he asks them to help him with a plan to get butterfly wings, the butterflies assure him he is “already one of us” and doesn’t have to change his appearance—but he replies, “I’m doing this for me.” With a little help from a butterfly cocoon, Benny soon emerges with his desired wings, and into the loving embrace of his mother. While some people may prefer human representation rather than animal analogies, this is a sweet story with adorable illustrations from a nonbinary artist. Unlike many tales of transgender kids, it happily does not include any characters who shame, tease, or even misunderstand Benny for who he is.