This is a well-intended book, written by the mother of a trans boy, and translated from Swedish, but there are a few flaws that could be showstoppers for some. Part of the Perfectly Me series, this is the first-person story of a Black transgender girl who shares her journey to being accepted as her true gender. We see the child get “sad and angry” when her mother buys her a suit and tie, tries to cut her hair in boys’ styles, and calls her “Wasim.” When she asserts that she wants girls’ clothes and hair and to be called “Bella,” though, her parents and friends are accepting, and her school even throws her a party for her new name. We see her school change the name label on the coat rack and other places. “Now I feel I’m really me!” Bella concludes.
On the very first page, however, we read, “My name is Wasim! I am a girl even though I am a boy!” This feels like an unnecessary use of a trans character’s deadname (the name given at birth rather than the name they want to reflect their real gender). The author does later show how the character changed her name to “Bella”—but if Bella is the name she wants, it doesn’t jibe that she would introduce herself with her deadname (at least without immediately indicating that she doesn’t want it). Additionally, the second sentence implies that trans girls are somehow both girls and boys. This just isn’t true unless they’re nonbinary (which this child is not; there’s another book in the series that stars a clearly nonbinary child).
The book goes on to explain that “Everybody thinks I am a boy because my body looks like a boy” (and we see an image of Bella looking at her naked body in the mirror) but readers may still be thrown by the first page. The naked image, while cartoony, also clearly shows Bella’s genitals, and feels unnecessary. We shouldn’t be focusing on trans people’s genitals. And the idea that that body “looks like a boy” may unintentionally reinforce the incorrect assumption that genders are determined by bodies.
The images indicate that Bella and her family are Muslim. Her mother wears a hijab, and on one page, we see her parents introducing her to an imam at a mosque. That’s a rare representation of a Muslim family in an LGBTQ-inclusive picture book, and great to see, though there’s nothing specific to being Muslim in the text.
While clearly meant as a positive portrayal, there are better books about trans children.
(Thanks to Seth Day of Rad Child Podcast for sharing some of his thoughts about this book with me. Any errors remain my own.)
