There are so many words to describe gender identity that I had not known about before reading through this book with my kid! I think this book gives adults and children a great jumping off point to start having conversations around different ways people express gender, but I think the presentation as an ABC story oversimplifies a lot of terms that have overlapping meanings. Regardless, I think this is an excellent starting point and helps fill a gap in children’s books that sorely needs filling.

This book is structured in the style of a classic ABC picture book, but focuses each letter on a word or set of words surrounding gender identity. The book is also accompanied by a Guide for Adults that includes a primer on definitions for key words such as "gender," "sex," "gender identity," "gender expression," and "sexual orientation," and some talking points and guidance on how to engage your child while reading this book. This guide is such a helpful, thorough, and digestible companion, though it would have been even more helpful had it come at the beginning of the book.

The book has bright, basic, block colors that are captivating without being distracting, and the definitions themselves are straightforward and clear.

I am so glad this book exists, and that both parents and kids alike have the opportunity to engage with this material in such an easy, bright, playful, digestible format.

Thanks to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the ARC.

This is not just for kids! What a great book to show children and adults about gender identity! There's so many terms that it's hard to remember them all or find one that works for you, but this book has a great A to Z list of terms. Super cute as well.

ABC of Gender Identity is essentially a dictionary of 26 different genders written by Devika Dalal with children in mind. It goes through 26 different genders for parents and caregivers to go through with their children to help children understand some of these complex gender identities and help children to realise what Gender they are. The book is followed by some information for parents about how to talk to their children about the gender's outlined in this book. Although this book is written for children, I believe anyone and everyone of any age should read this book as in a changing world it is useful to be aware of these different genders and what they mean.

I like this book as it goes through some of the most common and uncommon genders which are starting to arise in the twenty-first century. It tells the reader the definition of each gender to help us understand the gender and why someone may decide they are this gender. It may even make the reader regardless of age question their own gender and whether they are really the gender they always thought they were. Furthermore, regardless of whether you agree with all these different genders or not it is important to have an idea of what they mean so, you do not offend anyone who may identify as any of the genders in this book.

There were not too many things I disliked about the book but some of the gender identities got a bit complex which is a bit annoying because although the writer has written the definitions in the simplest terms it is still hard to understand some of the genders. Also, it would have maybe been nice to maybe see more identities under each letter of the alphabet to give the readers a more comprehensive guide of different identities and make it more relevant for everyone of any age.

Altogether, I rate this book 3 stars which makes it a good book. This is because it educates the reader on what may be a controversial topic but a topic that must still be taught and learnt about. This is because in the future we will be exposed to these different genders more and more and so we must know a little about what each means. I also believe that this book should be a compulsory read in all UK school PSHE lessons to help children with different genders and work on accepting people for who they are. I would like to thank NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for providing me with an exclusive arc copy of this book before the publishing date for an honest and truthful review in return.

The ABC of Gender Identity by Devika Dalal touts itself as being a book for everyone - and according to the author, this children's picture book is meant to accompany adults as they approach the topic of identity with children and open up a wider conversation about diversity, acceptance, and equality. Great concept but I honestly think this book would be too much for children who are reading picture books to comprehend. #ABCofGenderIdentity #NetGalley

I found this book both helpful and confusing. I would definitely need to learn more about gender identities I am unfamiliar with before using this book. Some of the identities sounded very similar, but with different names. That is probably due to my own lack of knowledge on different gender identities. I think it could be confusing to very young children, but I can see it being a valuable resource when appropriate. I think adults could also benefit from this book for their own knowledge. I loved the layout of the text and the way those pages were designed. I also liked the idea of the letter each having a person with them, but the graphics of the people were unappealing.

I thought this was a cute idea, but not very well executed. It could have a bit more style and flare, rather than be a list of facts. That said this idea needs to be done!

I am so happy to see children’s nonfiction doing this well. I want to buy this for all my friends with little ones!

More books on gender identity written for a very young audience are needed. However, ABC of Gender Identity while detailed in its definitions of different gender identities, doesn't seem to be written for a young audience. The language is very sophisticated, as are the concepts, making it a tough sell for a picture book, even for ages 5+.

This is the first time I have seen such an open gender identity conversation starter for kids! I am so glad this is finally a thing, because it's important for us to normalize these conversations and allow kids to explore who they are-- whoever that may be. The definitions are obviously simple to keep things palatable for children-- and there are quite a few that I had never heard of, which I am sure will leave both parents and children curious to learn more. I was hoping for a little more from the illustrations, though. I understand why they are simplistic, (for inclusivity,) but the images could be doing more to engage kids and help them develop a better understanding of the definition on the page. Michele Angello's guide for parents at the end was a great resource, as are the related books of interest-- but I wish there had been a bit more information for parents on where they should look, (be it specific websites or a few more book titles,) to get accurate information for these discussions with their children. Overall though, this book represents a huge step in the right direction for the next generation, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read it!

ABC OF GENDER IDENTITY by Devika Delal is a lovely introduction to gender studies.

As its title so aptly suggests, this children's book attempts to present certain gender identities, one for each letter of the alphabet.

Although sketchy (it is a children's book after all), ABC OF GENDER INDENTITY is based on the idea of raising awareness and acceptance among our youngest readers, and just for that reason alone it is worth a look.
If children have a wider field of vision than the masculine or feminine gender and if this were explained to them early enough, perhaps many of them would feel less oppressed and better in their own skin as they grow up.

I wasn't familiar with many of the genders in this book but it made me want to know more about the subject, so if you have any books to recommend I'm interested.

The most important thing is that you stay true to yourself and what you feel, no matter the things people say about you. You are beautiful.

I’m really not sure what to think of this one. I appreciate the effort to start dialogues with young children, but some of the terms and definitions seemed for a much older age group.

Every book I read starts off with 5 stars and the reason I've knocked the first star off this book is because it's waaay too short and the second star is gone because there's no way a small child would understand a word of it... even a ten year old would struggle which is the oldest suggested age on Amazon.

It took under 10 minutes to read from start to finish and as a middle-ager it's left me confused and disappointed.

Yes, there *are* twenty-six gender identities identified... with a single sentence each. This review is longer than the entire alphabet and the suggestions for adults fills up more than half the book.

It's good that it's been written but it reads like the author spent under an hour writing it and then that was it.

If you've got money to burn and a few minutes to waste then by all means get this book, but if you are expecting a book that'll help you to open up the discussion about gender identity with a Primary School aged child then you will be sorely disapointed unfortunately. It's more like a booklet that you would pick up for free at a doctors surgery or hospital while you were waiting to be seen, read it all while you were waiting to be called in then still be sat twiddling your thumbs if the doctor or nurse is running late. The potential is there, but it's obviously been written and published in a hurry.

My two-word recommendation? "Best avoided".

First, I want to start off with a disclaimer that my low rating is not due to lack of support of the LGBTQ+ community, but rather it is a reflection on my thoughts on this book. I support the community, and chose to read this book in hopes of helping to better educate myself and to help me become a better ally.

That being said.. I can tell the author's heart is in the right place. The book is inclusive to a lot of different gender identities. Some I had heard of, and others I had not, so it goes to show I still have a lot to learn.

I think where the book goes wrong is that, while yes it is targeted towards kids and is written on a reading level they can comprehend, it fails to truly explain the different gender identities. Now I wasn't expecting something overly complex, but I think providing only one sentence makes it feel more like a glossary. In order to make it more educational, I think more explanation would have been nice... maybe providing an example, especially when a few of the identities were quite similar.

This book is such a great way to teach children about gender diversity in small chunks, and it isn't overwhelming at all. The letter style of learning will help children comprehend and remember new information!

When I saw the title of this book, my eyes went big and I was all excited to see how the gender ABC was translated in a way for children to help their understanding. Unfortunately, though - I soon realised that while the core idea is a good one, this book is not really for little children.

In a way, I found the child-friendly illustrations did not match the definitions. The definitions are interesting to read for adults & I admit to have learned a lot from reading this book, but it is not meant for children.

I want to be honest here - but still, feel that it helped me (an adult reader) understand the various gender-related terms in a better way. That's why I went for a three star rating.

This book is such a good idea! I love that it’s introducing the concept of different genders and terminology to children so they will have an easier time accepting others and themselves as they grow into their own gender identities and expressions. As the wife of a non-binary person, this book really grabbed my attention, though my child is a bit too young for this book (I can’t see any productive discussion on this topic with a 2 year old no matter how verbal they are!)
One day I will be able to use this book as a starting point for discussion with my child though, as that is what this book is - a starting point.
There is a small description of each term and a few paragraphs explaining the basics of gender identity and how to discuss it with others, but there is no detail so to fully grasp the concepts, many people will need to do additional research. The book suggests this, but I feel that it would be better if the book offered some suggested reading in its appendix other than “search online”.
It is a beautifully designed book full of colour and bold chunky character illustrations showing various gender presentations from diverse ethnicities.

Personally there were several terms here that I hadn’t heard before and so I will be looking into these a bit more to educate myself - I just wish there was a little help in doing so from the author!
Overall this is a great introduction that is simple, bright and ideal to start the conversations to develop inclusive and accepting children.

When I saw this title I immediately wanted to read this book. A conversation starter to talk about gender identity with children, sounds great! But after reading it, I'm really disappointed. There are quite a lot of terms that I never heard before, so I learned something new, but all in all this glossary just seems more like the result of some challenge to find a term of gender identity for each letter of the alphabet. So you start searching everywhere until you find something that starts with the letter W, ending up with Witchgender. So at times kind of forced and random. One is even just a Chinese term, that felt a bit out of place.
Personally, I didn't like the illustrations, they looked too simple for my taste and didn't give the book much character. I honestly also expected more content. Each page has the name of one gender identity starting with the respective letter and one sentence of explanation. I had hoped for a more thorough description of each term, especially if it is meant to help the adults talking about and explaing the content to children.
The idea is cute, but the realisation of it isn't very good. I guess it is a starter, if you really don't have any other material to help you. But I still think there are better ways of addressing the topic of gender diversity with children than this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and Publishers for a free ARC in exchange for a honest review.

Disclaimer: I'm 21 years old with no kids.

Yet this book had some terms I hadn't even heard of before. Like the Guide for Adults at the end of the book states, this is a discussion-oriented book that needs the adult to bring prior knowledge of these terms to the conversation. I don't see it being entirely useful to a child without the discussion aspect but it's curated with simple definitions for the child to understand with minimal assistance from the adult.

This book is great for preschoolers or kindergarteners. This enables educators or parents to start the conversation early & provide early exposure. Love it!