ABSTRACT
Picturebooks about gender diversity are still evolving from an emergent context, related with the first movements of LGBTIQ+ rights and social activism. They not only offer an identity reference to gender diverse children but can also be used in school sessions in order to discuss gender aspects, contributing to a primary opposition to transphobia. Mainly due to the still controversial nature of the topic of gender identity, often perceived as inappropriate for children, these books are an example of the presence of challenging and controversial themes in children’s literature. Research on fracture and disruption trends in children’s literature is growing in the last couple years, illustrating the vitality and the evolution of contemporary children’s books, and its openness to new themes, accompanying the social and cultural evolution of the society, valuing the integration of multiple differences: ethnic, racial, ethical, religious, affective and sexual. In addition to the outline of a brief panorama of gender diverse picturebooks, the main purpose of this chapter is to describe and analyse the children’s personal responses to three selected picturebooks, as a result of a single reading session with primary school students.
