Usbourne publishing calling mums transphobes

[Abite]

Go woke go broke

I don’t understand who’s this book is aimed at

And who would buy it

Correct me the if I’m wrong but doesn’t Usbourne rely on mums selling to other mums?

Yes - the do ‘book parties’ don’t they and rely on (usually) mums going around schools and playgroups with their dreadfully twee books.

They do that’s how they sell their books

So I can’t see a huge market for it

Bloody mothers wondering whether compelling children to lie about their father’s transition is in their best interests

Lord I think I also know who has been involved in the writing given the main character's name. Poor kid.

No - from over the water?

Sounds like the sort of book @TinselAngel should review.

The author:

Sarah Hagger-Holt is Stonewall’s head of campaigns She’s responsible for mobilising and working with LGBT groups, networks and individuals so that together we can make a difference in campaigns for LGBT equality.

Outside of work, Sarah has co-authored two books based on interviews and personal stories: ‘Living It Out: A survival guide for LGB Christians, their friends, families and churches’ and ‘Pride and Joy: A guide for LGBT parents’.

Well that's a bit silly of usbourne. I think an email pointing out who buys children's books is in order.

I personally buy books as resources for my childcare business, as gifts for the children I care for, my child, my huge family, my friends children and do the purchasing for my pta and 2 community groups. So that's a couple of thousand pounds I won't be spending with them. I'll also email the very lovely usbourne book lady I use to explain why I'm no longer buying from her.

Sadly (in most cases) book publishing is on the skids

Do you mean just Usborne books?

As someone who works in publishing (especially children's book publishing) I can assure you the industry in not 'on the skids'.

This book looks utter shite though and will no doubt sink without a trace. Usborne are not considered high end or largely relevant to most in the industry.

It is a mystery that middle aged women don’t seem to transition.

If Izzys mum was transitioning would you be so cross? Just asking for clarity

Yes if Izzy’s mum was putting the responsibility for her adult choices onto a kid. Read around a bit more, on here we’re about kids being allowed to be kids and have boundaries and not be groomed or treated as an advert for their parents wokeness.

@ahenderson270 yes I would it makes no difference.

Hagger-Holt has almost no comments on most of her twitter. I think the 'transphobic trolls' are the dozen or so critical comments on this tweet:

mobile.twitter.com/Usborne/status/1215216752709328896

I think Usborne are just desperate for attention and manufacturing drama- the better strategy is probably just to ignore the book.

If Izzys mum was transitioning would you be so cross? Just asking for clarity

Not cross, disgusted that children are being told not to investigate their feelings and bounce them off reality, but to alter their reality for their parent to feel good about themselves, and yes, I couldn't care less which parent does it.

Like if Izzy's parent was anorexic and insisted Izzy referee to her as fat - and Izzy was then told in a cutesy woke book that she should be brave, face her fears and stand up to kids at school who called her parent skinny, because actually, her parent was convinced she/he was fat. The parent's reality was they were fat, they were a fat person trapped inside a body that disturbed them and so Izzy had to change her reality and understand that her parent was actually obese, not the opposite. And then work on making her classmates understand that what they all saw, with their own eyes, made them bigots.

I'd be disgusted because it's abuse.

And my apologies to anybody who is suffering with anorexia, I do absolutely not mean to make light of what you're going through, or misappropriate it. I just can't think of a clearer example of misalignment between how someone feels about their body (AGP aside..) and an objective reality.

If Izzys mum was transitioning would you be so cross? Just asking for clarity

It's not about which parent's "transitioning". Nor is it about "transitioning". The objection is that the book valorises children taking on the responsibility for parents. That's anti-safeguarding and perilously close to grooming.

Compare something like Jacqueline Wilson's The Illustrated Mum, where the mother has mental health issues. The narrative is that the children love their mum and their mum loves them but they are not responsible for their mum's wellbeing.

The blurb for the book presents as ideological propaganda, verging on grooming.

If you can't understand the problem with that, I really cannot help you.

Wise to remember that Usborne is an MLM outfit.

Yet, middle aged mothers with teenage children who transition - and then plaster pics of themselves in men's underwear all over social media - seem to be vanishingly rare, don't they. Hen's teeth, almost. Funny that.

This book looks like this BBC news story www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-48453164/i-didn-t-understand-what-transgender-was - a real life situation where, to quote the teen DD, "Dad became Charlotte" and then does a weird stage-dive onto the family sitting on the sofa, to show just how fun this "dad transitioning into mam" thing really is.

I'm as GC as the next person, but I don't think there's anything wrong with a book supporting children with a trans parent. And I don't think there's anything wrong with a trans person coming out as an adult, if that's what they need to do. Gender dysphoria is real, and if someone needs to identify with the opposite sex to lead a life that they feel has value, then they need to do that. Doesn't entitle them to dismantle the protections and privacies we need as a sex class, of course, nor to demand that we centre them in our feminism (with the explicit threat of male-patterned violence and social exclusion there, to keep any dissenters in line - or at least silent) but I don't see an issue with supporting people to live their best lives, either.

Is this book problematic in some other way? I've not read it, so I may be missing something, but I can't see an issue with it per se.

Yes, Usborne is the "Forever Living Products" or "Juice Plus" of publishing - back when my children were small, you could barely attend a toddler group without someone trying to flog you Usborne books.

Walker books - with the bear holding a candle - much better.

It's not about which parent's "transitioning". Nor is it about "transitioning". The objection is that the book valorises children taking on the responsibility for parents. That's anti-safeguarding and perilously close to grooming.

Okay, thanks. Not read it, or heard of it prior to this. That's shady in the extreme, yes, if so.

I already avoid Usbourne because of the MLM aspect.

I think there is a place for a book that helps children come to terms with having a trans parent. I suspect, given the background, that this isn’t the one though.

My local Usborne rep is a prominent member of a large evangelical church. I wonder what she'll think of this?