Teaching Trans for Children, Youth, and Adults Who Care for Them: A Review of Children's Picture Books and Young Adult Memoirs

Three picture books published in 2014 focus on gender expression in very young children. In Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, the main character (Morris) enjoys donning a tangerine-colored dress at school: “Morris likes the color of the dress. It reminds him of tigers, the sun and his mother's hair. He likes the noises the dress makes—swish, swish, swish when he walks and crinkle, crinkle, crinkle when he sits down.” Morris is ridiculed by the other children and pretends to be sick to stay home from school. He dreams of riding an elephant on a space safari and paints a picture of himself atop an elephant in the tangerine dress. He returns to school on Monday with his painting and slips on the dress. When his classmates won't let them play, Morris creates his own adventure, and soon the other children are drawn in. “By the time they returned...