Book Nook: Jacob's Room to Choose

I recently had a chance to review JACOB’S ROOM TO CHOOSE (American Psychological Association/Magination Press; May 2019; for readers ages 5 to 8) by Sarah and Ian Hoffman. It was a good book for explaining an important issue - respect in the bathroom.

Whatever your feelings are on unisex bathrooms or gender issues, the fact of the matter is not all people look clearly like one gender or another. My own daughter has been scolded for being with me in the women's locker room, because she isn't obviously a girl. 

In this book, Jacob, who dresses "like a girl," and Sophie, who dresses "like a boy," are chased out of their respective bathrooms. Confused and worried, they tell their teacher, who uses it as a teachable moment about how people look and dress differently, but have a right to go to the bathroom in peace.

In my experience, this education is important - my daughter doesn't like being made to feel bad when she's in the right place. She wants to wear what's comfortable and she wants hair that's easy to take care of, and doesn't feel like she should have to change that in order to not be hassled in a bathroom or locker room. She's a girl who looks outside the norm, and shouldn't be berated for being in the "wrong" place when she's where she's supposed to be. 

In a “Note to Parents” included in the book, the authors say that as more gender non-conforming young people enter the mainstream, the issue of bathroom access is spreading beyond schools and into restaurants, playgrounds, airports, and other public spaces, underscoring the need for education that begins at school and at home.