Listen Back: Theresa Thorn and Noah Grigni join to share It Feels Good to Be Yourself: A Book About Gender Identity

Original Air Date: August 31, 2019

Theresa Thorn and Noah Grigni join to share IT FEELS GOOD TO BE YOURSELF: A BOOK ABOUT GENDER IDENTITY. There are more conversations about gender going on than perhaps ever before, but there are also lots and lots of adults and kids alike who are not quite sure exactly how to talk about gender. In Theresa and Noah’s debut picture book, readers meet four different children who each identify differently from one another in terms of gender. The narrator introduces each child by sharing how that child identifies now and how that may have changed, then the narrator provides language to help describe each of these varying gender identities. As we discuss in the conversation, the narrator is that of a guide and onlooker with us, the readers, but the narrator also uses lots of non-definitive language in order to help communicate the fluidity and varied nature of gender identity. Theresa puts it best when she says, “We all have a sense of gender that belongs to us”. I hope that you, dear listener, find that there is space for you in this conversation as well. And for your students, your friends, and your family members.

Listen along:

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Some people are boys. Some people are girls. Some people are both, neither, or somewhere in between.

This sweet, straightforward exploration of gender identity will give children a fuller understanding of themselves and others. With child-friendly language and vibrant art, It Feels Good to Be Yourself provides young readers and parents alike with the vocabulary to discuss this important topic with sensitivity.

SHOW NOTES:

• Learn more about Theresa Thorn at theresathorn.com  

• Learn more about Noah Grigni at noahgrigni.com  

• Noah on Instagram (@ngrigni)

• One Bad Mother podcast