I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel & Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas
Told in the first person, Jazz explains to readers her favorite things like the color pink, dancing, singing, makeup and mermaids. She talks about her best friends Samantha and Casey and what they do together. Then Jazz talks about how she is different than the girls she is friends with. Jazz was born a boy but has a girl brain. She explains that she is transgender and then talks about how she has been this way since she was a very little child. Readers will see her family come to terms with Jazz being transgender and the support she got from them and the school she attends. The end touches on bullying, but that is not the focus of this book. It is a positive and personal look at being a transgender child.
Written by Herthel and Jazz herself, this book takes the right tone about the subject from the first page. First, it establishes firmly that Jazz is a girl. It is only after that that readers are told that she is transgender. That topic is handled in a very matter-of-fact way and the book does not delve into issues of genitals, hormones or treatments of any kind. It is kept right at the correct level so that this can be used with children who are transgender themselves or have a transgender sibling or classmate.
McNicholas’ illustrations keep Jazz merrily feminine throughout. When depicting Jazz as a little boy as a younger child, the illustrations manage without anything overt to show how out-of-place Jazz feels in those clothes and that hair. It is gently framed, but clear in the pictures that Jazz is much happier living as a girl.
A great pick for classrooms or schools with transgender children, this is also a book that parents will appreciate having at their library. Appropriate for ages 4-7.
Reviewed from copy received from Dial.
Waking Brain Cells 