Have I bought the wokest book?

Jenni's publishers, maybe. Writing non-fiction for kids is a whole different skillset to writing the books Jenni has, which are really wry memoirs, descriptions of her own feelings and experiences as a journalist. She's historically accurate as far as I can tell, but for KS2 you need to be facts-first as they're not of an age to unpick opinion as much. Something like the Usborne Politics for Beginners book would be perfectly pitched, that's what I'm seeking.

What a good suggestion to make to Jenni Murray....

Cheers. Yes, I thought that might be the case. Still one I'd like to look at.

Oh, I have now completed the Little People, Big Dreams set and heartily endorse the ten currently available - very nicely done. They're aimed at KS1, though, so my quest for the KS2 equivalent of Jenni Murray's books continues...

silentcrow to be honest I did extensive googling and review reading to work out what it's premise was but yes on reflection you wouldn't exactly get the same story about a girl so perhaps not so great. I think he wears lipstick to the parade. However, I was pleased his grandmother doesn't appear to pop him on a flight to Thailand.

Iam thanks 😀 - there was no other option tbh! A book for girls that celebrates their compelled silence wtf? Not for my girls.

Realised after reading this thread that DGD has a copy of the Rebel Book for Girls and it's sitting on the bookshelf in my bedroom. I am greatly perturbed by this, due to young Master Coy's presence in the book, and think it may have to be disappeared by the fairies. Before this night is out.

I bought that shitty Rebel girls book for my daughter then saw they horrific Coy (WTF??? COY??) male person included! So I AM that parent who glued the pages together and wrote the review on Amazon...this book stinks!

Mm, I've not seen that one in the flesh yet, so have been witholding judgement. Edutwitter went nuts for it earlier in the year, but I'm wary as that particular crowd can lean rather woke. How have you found it - I'm concerned that it's all rather sparkly and stereotypical-things-that-are-coded-girl.

Sorry...,

www.amazon.co.uk/Julian-Mermaid-Jessica-Love/dp/1406380636

Well, I was very delighted to come across this book today:

As far as I can tell, the boy is allowed to totally rock being a mermaid and is still Julian and a boy.

(Stupid link sorry)

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiq0IaHrb7fAhXMt-0KHWY3AMgYABAAGgJkZw&ae=1&sig=AOD64_1hOXQ7Vq4QsBYMVcbaMl8xfK55lQ&q&adurl=www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie%3DUTF8%26keywords%3Djulian%2Bis%2Ba%2Bmermaid%26index%3Daps%26tag%3Dhydrukspg-21%26ref%3Dpd_sl_56aemc63eq_e%26adgrpid%3D53370195276%26hvpone%3D%26hvptwo%3D%26hvadid%3D259108012316%26hvpos%3D1t1%26hvnetw%3Dg%26hvrand%3D12102795010105923082%26hvqmt%3De%26hvdev%3Dm%26hvdvcmdl%3D%26hvlocint%3D%26hvlocphy%3D1007336%26hvtargid%3Dkwd-365296413350&ved=2ahUKEwiN-IGHrb7fAhVlShUIHe5WBhEQ0Qx6BAgMEAE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiq0IaHrb7fAhXMt-0KHWY3AMgYABAAGgJkZw&ae=1&sig=AOD64<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiq0IaHrb7fAhXMt-0KHWY3AMgYABAAGgJkZw&ae=1&sig=AOD64_1hOXQ7Vq4QsBYMVcbaMl8xfK55lQ&q&adurl=www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie%3DUTF8%26keywords%3Djulian%2Bis%2Ba%2Bmermaid%26index%3Daps%26tag%3Dhydrukspg-21%26ref%3Dpd_sl_56aemc63eq_e%26adgrpid%3D53370195276%26hvpone%3D%26hvptwo%3D%26hvadid%3D259108012316%26hvpos%3D1t1%26hvnetw%3Dg%26hvrand%3D12102795010105923082%26hvqmt%3De%26hvdev%3Dm%26hvdvcmdl%3D%26hvlocint%3D%26hvlocphy%3D1007336%26hvtargid%3Dkwd-365296413350&ved=2ahUKEwiN-IGHrb7fAhVlShUIHe5WBhEQ0Qx6BAgMEAE" rel="nofollow" target="blank">1hOXQ7Vq4QsBYMVcbaMl8xfK55lQ&q&adurl=www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie%3DUTF8%26keywords%3Djulian%2Bis%2Ba%2Bmermaid%26index%3Daps%26tag%3Dhydrukspg-21%26ref%3Dpdd<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiq0IaHrb7fAhXMt-0KHWY3AMgYABAAGgJkZw&ae=1&sig=AOD64_1hOXQ7Vq4QsBYMVcbaMl8xfK55lQ&q&adurl=www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie%3DUTF8%26keywords%3Djulian%2Bis%2Ba%2Bmermaid%26index%3Daps%26tag%3Dhydrukspg-21%26ref%3Dpd_sl_56aemc63eq_e%26adgrpid%3D53370195276%26hvpone%3D%26hvptwo%3D%26hvadid%3D259108012316%26hvpos%3D1t1%26hvnetw%3Dg%26hvrand%3D12102795010105923082%26hvqmt%3De%26hvdev%3Dm%26hvdvcmdl%3D%26hvlocint%3D%26hvlocphy%3D1007336%26hvtargid%3Dkwd-365296413350&ved=2ahUKEwiN-IGHrb7fAhVlShUIHe5WBhEQ0Qx6BAgMEAE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">sl<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiq0IaHrb7fAhXMt-0KHWY3AMgYABAAGgJkZw&ae=1&sig=AOD64_1hOXQ7Vq4QsBYMVcbaMl8xfK55lQ&q&adurl=www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie%3DUTF8%26keywords%3Djulian%2Bis%2Ba%2Bmermaid%26index%3Daps%26tag%3Dhydrukspg-21%26ref%3Dpd_sl_56aemc63eq_e%26adgrpid%3D53370195276%26hvpone%3D%26hvptwo%3D%26hvadid%3D259108012316%26hvpos%3D1t1%26hvnetw%3Dg%26hvrand%3D12102795010105923082%26hvqmt%3De%26hvdev%3Dm%26hvdvcmdl%3D%26hvlocint%3D%26hvlocphy%3D1007336%26hvtargid%3Dkwd-365296413350&ved=2ahUKEwiN-IGHrb7fAhVlShUIHe5WBhEQ0Qx6BAgMEAE" rel="nofollow" target="blank">56aemc63eqq<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.co.uk/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwiq0IaHrb7fAhXMt-0KHWY3AMgYABAAGgJkZw&ae=1&sig=AOD64_1hOXQ7Vq4QsBYMVcbaMl8xfK55lQ&q&adurl=www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie%3DUTF8%26keywords%3Djulian%2Bis%2Ba%2Bmermaid%26index%3Daps%26tag%3Dhydrukspg-21%26ref%3Dpd_sl_56aemc63eq_e%26adgrpid%3D53370195276%26hvpone%3D%26hvptwo%3D%26hvadid%3D259108012316%26hvpos%3D1t1%26hvnetw%3Dg%26hvrand%3D12102795010105923082%26hvqmt%3De%26hvdev%3Dm%26hvdvcmdl%3D%26hvlocint%3D%26hvlocphy%3D1007336%26hvtargid%3Dkwd-365296413350&ved=2ahUKEwiN-IGHrb7fAhVlShUIHe5WBhEQ0Qx6BAgMEAE" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">e%26adgrpid%3D53370195276%26hvpone%3D%26hvptwo%3D%26hvadid%3D259108012316%26hvpos%3D1t1%26hvnetw%3Dg%26hvrand%3D12102795010105923082%26hvqmt%3De%26hvdev%3Dm%26hvdvcmdl%3D%26hvlocint%3D%26hvlocphy%3D1007336%26hvtargid%3Dkwd-365296413350&ved=2ahUKEwiN-IGHrb7fAhVlShUIHe5WBhEQ0Qx6BAgMEAE

Nothing yes, the whole book runs me up the wrong way, tbh, these women and their worlds are too complex for the age range it's written for. This is one I regret getting online; I think if I'd had a good look in a shop I wouldn't have bought it. I've avoided most of the genre since; Kate Pankhurst is a notable exception and the ones I've read in the Little People, Big Dreams series so far are ok.

Jenni Murray did Thatcher well in her book, worth a read.

Scipio , i totally agree re the overt sexism of old versus today’s gaslighting. I find the current landscape much more frightening. When i was growing up, many men openly talked of women as silly and ornamental, but now there is a seam of true loathing and jealousy, hidden and denied. We can feel it, but it is harder to pin down .

"Heads up for those considering this book; it also features Thatcher and Aung San Suu Kyi. So avoid if you're not into discussing their politics."

Lol I bought the girls one for DD and then when I got home realised 3 things

Thatcher and Aung San Suu Kyi. While I am up for disconnecting the difficulties faced by women gettign to / keeping power from whether I think they were "good" or not, the way it's presented in the text did not sit right
I realised it was too young for DD
I realised that it was something I wanted her to read rather than something she would choose

So I took it back

My dds were given that book, and i found it recently with “and one horrible boy” scribbled over his face.

You are raising them right, SirVix - that made me smile to read! I feel so sorry and cross for children and young people today being gaslighted. I used to read all this science fiction in the 80s which would say ‘for boys aged 11 and over’ on it (it mostly came from 60s and 70s as my mum had a vast collection) and frankly I’d rather go back to those days of books where I could roll my eyes at it and read on than this insidious, Orwellian gaslighting where girls can’t have a book full of actual girls.

The first to have surgery apparently to match how he "felt inside".

A concept which, at this festive time of year, makes as much sense as Father Christmas.

The writers have a bit of a problem because the nature of rebelling against conformity for women and men is so different. Women have been legally restricted to domesticity, so 'rebel women' climb mountains, enter politics, are scientists, get an education etc. etc. the list goes on and on. In many cases being 'gender non conforming' has involved breaking the law or actually pretending to be a man.

Boys just don't have the same issues. Want to become a midwife? Take charge and call yourself a gynaecologist. Fancy doing some cooking? Become a chef!

For men being gender non conforming only really means behaving and appearing like a woman according to the conventions of their time, and for centuries that has meant not doing anything that anyone would write about in a history book.

My dds were given that book, and i found it recently with “and one horrible boy” scribbled over his face. They were outraged at the time that the women had done amazing things while what this boy had done was force the girls in his school to share their space with him.

When I hear about books like the one mentioned in the original post, I thank all the gods that I was raised by my father, whose bedtime stories were discussions of what I would study at university and what I would do for a living when I grew up.

I love you, Dad. You are the best.

silentcrow's extract above - do people not say 'no to their kids anymore? What kind of lesson are the girls having to learn when some over-entitled child and their* equally over-entitled parents weaponise the endemic misogyny of the justice system against them so their spaces can be invaded and their feelings overridden?

*I hate this fucking self-censorship. I'm not a liar and I don't appreciate being forced to lie. It'd better blow over soon.

I wonder why they didn't pick someone like Ben Barres as a trans man example? en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Barres

I've leafed through the book in the bookshop but not entirely convinced on a quick browse that the men in the book were so significantly different from male bios in any random book about history, science etc which so often have dozens of men and one token woman. Would be interesting to hear how your DS likes the rest of it OP!

Good idea.

I've heard people glue the two pages together in Rebel Girls. Can you do that in the other book?

Shit I bought this for my DS too. Will have to edit carefully.

Definitely writing an Amazon review too!