All I Want To Be Is Me (2011), written and illustrated by Phyllis Rothblatt, MFT, is a sweet book that affirms the value of gender diversity. Rothblatt uses brief vignettes with text taken from song lyrics as well as emotionally evocative images to communicate her celebratory message. Some of the racially diverse gender creative children depicted identify as transgender while others take a more ambivalent approach to gender identification.

The song is available for free on Rothblatt’s website and, the song and book paired are a perfect way to introduce children to gender diversity in the home and classroom.

This review is part of my “Snapshots of LGBTQ Kid Lit” project. I’m working on a book, The New Queer Children’s Literature: Exploring the Principles and Politics of LGBTQ* Children’s Picture Books, which is under contract with the University Press of Mississippi. Part of my research is identifying and interpreting English-language children’s picture books with LGBTQ* content published in the US and Canada between 1979 and 2019. Follow my blog to follow my journey!