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baylaurels 's review for:
A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities
by Mady G., J.R. Zuckerberg
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.5 stars
I enjoyed the art style and tone, and think this graphic novel had a lot of good information on queer and trans identities and would make a good resource for a young person looking for more information.
However, I think it was also a little all over the place - jumping back and forth between snails, sproutlings, and multiple groups of human people was a bit disjointed, and some of the chapters didn't seem to flow and connect as well to the main concept. For example, I thought the relationship advice given was pretty good, but it did not seem very integrated into the rest of the book, just set aside as its own chapter at the end that could have well been it's own book, apart from the inclusion of the snails.
I also think it would have been beneficial to include more discussion of nonbinary identities and pronouns - I had a similar complaint of the companion book on they/them pronouns. I thought they did well by saying there were many different genders/versions of nonbinary identity, but some examples/discussions of that would be nice (especially since they went into microlabels/subidentities of the asexuality spectrum, so I don't think it would have been out of place).
In my personal opinion, the asexuality chapter fell a little bit too much into the "don't worry, some asexuals do have sex!" line of conversation and suggested that while some don't have sex, nonsexual touch (hugs/kisses/etc.) is a critical part of asexual partnerships. I wish they had highlighted that all of these things vary person to person and are a valid expression of asexuality, and highlighted the importance of communication about these boundaries in all relationships regardless of sexuality (see, this is a way of integrating that relationship advice chapter throughout).
I liked the coloring well enough, but for an introductory book on queer and trans identities I think it missed out on the chance to introduce the flags/colors of different identities, since that is honestly a significant part of presentation and identifying community for some people.
In all while I'm being super nit-picky I did enjoy the book! It's a good resource and I thought the sproutlings were adorable. I'd definitely recommend for a teen audience, looking to branch out into learning more about LGBTQ+ identities.
I enjoyed the art style and tone, and think this graphic novel had a lot of good information on queer and trans identities and would make a good resource for a young person looking for more information.
However, I think it was also a little all over the place - jumping back and forth between snails, sproutlings, and multiple groups of human people was a bit disjointed, and some of the chapters didn't seem to flow and connect as well to the main concept. For example, I thought the relationship advice given was pretty good, but it did not seem very integrated into the rest of the book, just set aside as its own chapter at the end that could have well been it's own book, apart from the inclusion of the snails.
I also think it would have been beneficial to include more discussion of nonbinary identities and pronouns - I had a similar complaint of the companion book on they/them pronouns. I thought they did well by saying there were many different genders/versions of nonbinary identity, but some examples/discussions of that would be nice (especially since they went into microlabels/subidentities of the asexuality spectrum, so I don't think it would have been out of place).
In my personal opinion, the asexuality chapter fell a little bit too much into the "don't worry, some asexuals do have sex!" line of conversation and suggested that while some don't have sex, nonsexual touch (hugs/kisses/etc.) is a critical part of asexual partnerships. I wish they had highlighted that all of these things vary person to person and are a valid expression of asexuality, and highlighted the importance of communication about these boundaries in all relationships regardless of sexuality (see, this is a way of integrating that relationship advice chapter throughout).
I liked the coloring well enough, but for an introductory book on queer and trans identities I think it missed out on the chance to introduce the flags/colors of different identities, since that is honestly a significant part of presentation and identifying community for some people.
In all while I'm being super nit-picky I did enjoy the book! It's a good resource and I thought the sproutlings were adorable. I'd definitely recommend for a teen audience, looking to branch out into learning more about LGBTQ+ identities.