Age: Kindergarten-3rd grade
Identity: Nonbinary Transgender illustrator

A simplified, straight-forward approach to explaining gender identity to the little ones. Via fictionalized children, Thorn presents transgender, cisgendered, non-binary, gender-fluid, and gender identities that cannot be captured in words. There is a lot of information to digest but Thorn is reassuring, repetitive, and connects with the audience through your/you pronouns.

Although the societal process of mis-gendering is complex and tangled, Thorn simplifies it for children by saying:

"When you were born, you couldn't tell people who you were or how you felt. They looked at you and made a guess. Maybe they got it right, maybe they got it wrong."

As adults, history and research and our own experience have revealed the complexity of gender identity, but Thorn normalizes it for modern-day children. Children are invited to examine their own gender identity as easily as they examine their favorite color or food. A great step forward for a new generation of introspective, self-loving, open-minded people.