The Name I Call MyselfThe Name I Call Myself

"A sweet and moving picture book depicting Ari's gender journey from childhood to adolescence in order to discover who they really are. Meet Ari, a young person who doesn't like to be called by their birth name Edward: "When I think of the name Edward, I imagine old kings who snore a lot." Throughout this beautiful and engaging picture book, we watch Ari grow up before our very eyes as they navigate the ins and outs of their gender identity; we see how, as a child, they prefer dolls and princess movies, and want to grow out their hair, though their father insists on cutting it short, because that's "what a boy looks like." At ten, they play hockey but wish they could try on their mother's dresses; at fifteen, they shave their body, hoping to have smooth skin like the girls. At sixteen, they want to run away, especially from their father, who insists, "You're a boy, so you have to act like one." Who will Ari become? Moving from age six to adolescence, The Name I Call Myself touchingly depicts Edward's tender, solitary gender journey to Ari: a new life distinguished and made."--