Mindful Seymour Pauses vs Girlhood

Mindful Seymour Pauses

Nan Arkwright, Ian Gonzales

2023

Seymour really wants to touch another bird's beautiful tail feathers and he's not even aware of what's going on with the birds around him. Just in time, his older sister shares her Future Vision Goggles with him so he can see for himself. Will he learn to pause and make a friend by stopping when asked? Put on your own goggles and join Seymour in an island adventure to find out. Be sure to visit the website to see animals from the Galapagos. Also, look for resources for grown-ups and fun for kids. (www. AHopSkipandaJumpAhead.com/books)

Girlhood

Carolyn Hays

2022

'Stunning . . . Built like a thriller, moving, wise and illuminated on every page with love' -Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat A parent's deeply moving love letter to a daughter who has always known exactly who she is. When Carolyn Hays's child made clear to the family that they were all wrong, he was not a boy, but, in fact, a girl, the Hays shifted pronouns, adopted a nickname and encouraged her to dress as she felt comfortable. One ordinary day, a caseworker from the Department of Children and Families knocked on their door to investigate an anonymous complaint about the upbringing of their transgender child. It was this threat that instilled in them a deep-seated fear for their child's safety in the Republican state they called home. And so they uprooted their lives to the more trans-accepting Northeast United States, though they were never far from the hate and fear resting at the nation's core. Intimate, lyrical and thought-provoking, A Girlhood is an ode to Hays's brilliant, brave child, as well as a cathartic revisit of the pain of the past. It tells of the brutal truths of being trans, of the sacrificial nature of motherhood, and of the lengths a family will go to shield their youngest from the cruel realities of the world. Hays asks us all to love better, for children everywhere enduring injustice and prejudice just as they begin to understand themselves. A Girlhood is a celebration of difference, a plea for empathy, a hope for a better future, but moreover, it is a love letter to a child who has always known herself and is waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.