I was really excited about the premise of this book and that it was a children’s book about genders outside the binary from cultures around the world. But beyond that I unfortunately have nothing good to say about this book. First of all, it is written as though it is an indigenous person telling this story, but as the author’s note at the end tells you - it is actually written by a white American. I had an off feeling the whole time I was reading and couldn’t quite figure out what it was until the end. Rather than this being an informative book about different genders from different cultures, it felt more like cultural appropriation. Even the title is very misleading. These aren’t even stories about real people, but made up stories (some of which might loosely be based on actual people).

I would love for books like this to exist, but the way this was handled and written is not the way. If real people’s stories had been told and it was called something like “Different Genders from Around the World” and actually lifted up the voices and stories of BIPOC and gender diverse people, it could be a good book. But sadly that is not what the author did here. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement.