Publishing Day was December 9th, 2022! It is on Amazon and will be in independent bookstores in Minnesota. If you belong to a school, organization, or library that would like a book donated, let us know.
A Children’s Book about Love, Acceptance, & Gender Diversity
“Hi! I’m Kai!
This is a story about me and my cat. At school, not everyone understands me. I am not a boy or a girl- I am nonbinary. Every day when I come home, Sky is happy to see me. Her cuddles make me smile! She loves me as I am - and so do I.”
Through authentic storytelling and representation, this charming story generates understanding and compassion by showing the power of unconditional love and friendship for a gender non-conforming child. As I Am helps children and their adults discuss gender, love, and acceptance to make communities gender-affirming and safe for all.
Why This Book is Important
Anti-bias education is critical in early childhood. There exists little to no early childhood literature with a human protagonist who is nonbinary. We must do better!
As I Am teaches about an identity outside the gender binary. It was written to provide preschoolers a counter-narrative to rigid, oppressive gender norms prevalent in early childhood media and literacy. It is a short, touching story that uses accessible language for preschoolers. Without representation, a whole generation of young readers will hear stories that reinforce the false gender binary, making invisible the experiences of transgender and nonbinary folks.
AS I AM is a beautiful, wonderful book. I was privileged to see this story and some of its art in its earliest drafts, and I am blown away by the final work.
The sweet and tender story that Celeste Finn tells about a nonbinary kid and their cat is an important one, and the artwork is perfect. In the hands of a less talented illustrator, the main character (Kai) might be read as a boy or girl and thus undermine the story, but Kristina Neudakhina nails it. And the hand-lettered text draws the reader into Kai’s experience, making the narrative more intimate and Kai even more relatable.
As much as this is a story about a nonbinary kid, it’s also universal. Who can’t relate to sometimes feeling lonely and not understood, or being grateful for a friend who gets it? “Can’t you see?” asks Kai. “I want to be loved for who I am, as I am.” That’s all of us.
AS I AM’s included 24-page gender guide is a useful and affirming resource — and it’s also a document full of love, coming from a childhood educator who clearly cares about the environments we create for ALL our kids, and who collaborated with “folks from across the gender spectrum” to do it justice. I thought I knew this stuff already, and I learned from it.
— Audrey Beth Stein, author of LOOK AT ME and the Lambda Literary Award Finalist memoir MAP
About Celeste
Author (She/Her)
Celeste’s work as an educator is rooted in the belief that education is the most effective catalyst for evolutionary change and that early childhood education is the most critically important education we ever receive. To that end, she believes anti-bias and anti-racist practices are essential to every classroom. Celeste is a children’s book author and is developing Spiritual Inquiry and Race Curriculums with a team of fellow educators. She is the founder of Big Wonder, an early childhood center that will open this summer.
Celeste wrote ‘As I Am’ as an ally to the trans and non-binary community. After seeking out children’s books with a non-binary protagonist and finding none, Celeste approached a dear friend who is nonbinary, asked them to write a nonbinary children’s book, and offered to help them publish it. To which her friend responded, “I am so tired of being everyone’s educator on gender. YOU WRITE IT.” And so, with their support, a team of collaborators, and the desire to become a better advocate and educator, As I Am was born. Once costs of publishing and printing are accounted for, future profits from As I Am will go towards helping create gender-affirming classroom communities.
Editors & Collaborators:
Sarah Allsbrooks (She/Her)
Kari Becken (They/She)
Kari Becken is a Certified Professional Life Coach who helps Queer, Trans & Gender Expansive folx stop being haunted by a paralyzing fear of rejection and the regret of a life unlived. By creating the space to recognize, understand and accept oneself, Coach Kari invites folx to reconnect with possibility and take significant steps toward unapologetically embracing themselves and the life they were truly meant to live. You can connect with them at karibecken.com
"As someone who came out much later in life, the learning curve around gender has been steep. The opportunity to assist in the research and editing of the Gender Guide helped me to shift from gender non-conforming to a gender expansive identity that felt like coming home. For this, I will be forever grateful. When caregivers and children engage with this material, I trust they will experience a meaningful, life changing impact as well."
Jay Bulbulian Wells (They Them)
"Zee" (Zoë E Hankins) (They/He)
Cats are canonically accepting of all genders! As I Am reminded me of my cat Tabitha and growing up non-binary in a binary world. Pets make all the difference in our lives. I know this book will make a difference in many more lives.
Lauren Jurgensen (She/Her)
Alex Kapitan
Founder of Radical Copyeditor, an anti-oppressive language project
Dariush Onghaie (He/Him)
Keely Siobhan
Keeley Siobhan is an early childhood educator who cares for families in the Boston area. Her work with young children is driven by her lifelong passion for kindness, sincerity, and equality.
Amanda E Smith, BA & LSW (She/Her)
Amanda has worked for 24 years in public health settings with diverse populations. She specialized in family and childhood trauma. She currently works with adults experiencing complex health concerns.
I am so grateful to have been part of this project. I strongly believe the book and guide will contribute to making safer communities for all ages. Its simplicity invokes a message that reverberates in all of us - wanting to feel safe and accepted for who we fundamentally are as individuals.
Audrey Beth Stein
Annie Wells (They/Them)
About Kristina
Illustrator (She/Her)
Kristina finds great joy in creating pictures and telling stories through them. That is why she’s become an illustrator, and over the last year, she’s created illustrations for the children's books “Look At Me” by Audrey Beth Stein and “As I Am” by Celeste Finn. She loves drawing diversity and finds it really important to bring representation to books for young readers.
I’m willing to continue this journey illustrating anti-bias stories which are in many ways educational for me and those who surround me.
