WOW Review: Volume XVIII, Issue 1 • Page 6 of 12 • Worlds of Words

Me and My Dysphoria Monster: An Empowering Story to Help Children Cope with Gender Dysphoria
Written by Laura Kate Dale
Illustrated by Ang Hui Qing
Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2022, 32 pp (unpaged)
ISBN: 978-1839970924

Nisha is a young trans girl who is dealing with feelings of gender dysphoria, the distress a person feels when there is a mismatch between the sex they were assigned at birth and their gender identity. Nisha is AMAB (assigned male at birth) and identifies as a girl. Nisha’s gender dysphoria is a monster who is always with her, growing as she struggles in a world that misidentifies her as a boy. The reader sees her dealing with this monster while she goes about her everyday life and watches the monster grow bigger every time people see Nisha as a boy.

Luckily, Nisha meets someone who can help her make sense of what she is going through. Jack, who is her dad’s friend, explains that when we are born, the doctor is sometimes wrong to announce the baby as a boy or a girl. People get a visit from their gender dysphoria monster when others identify a gender that does not feel right. The monster is the little voice within a person that tells us who we are and who we want to be. The monster is calm when we are comfortable and when other people understand and accept us for who we are. Jack is a trans man who understands Nisha’s struggles. Jack reassures Nisha that his own monster still exists at times, but it is small and quiet now. Jack suggests that Nisha speaks with trusted adults who can help, and she does. She speaks with her parents. They start to call her by her girl name and refer to her by feminine pronouns. Her monster begins to shrink and calms down as she wears new clothes that she is more comfortable in, uses the girls’ toilets, and plays on the girls’ teams.

This book values acceptance and affirmation by the community as seen with Jack and her parents. Freedom of expression is evident through the liberating action of choosing one’s name, clothing, and activities, along with a feeling of hope. Laura Kate Dale wrote this book specifically to reach young trans folks as well as the people in their lives. In the back matter, she includes an adult’s guide that contains useful terminology and explanations and questions and answers to help guide children and their adults. Her own childhood in the early nineties was a confusing and lonely time, and she wants to help others feel seen.

Hui Qing Ang’s bright colors on the cover are inviting, and the inconsistent font of the title aligns with Nisha’s confused emotions. The illustrations inside are little vignettes or snippets of Nisha’s daily life. Color choices are wisely used to depict feelings of sadness and frustration when the monster is taking over with lots of black and blues. The monster appears at times as little scribbles and at other times as cute and cartoon-like. Nisha’s ethnicity is not clear, but her skin color of light brown gives the feeling of diversity. While there is no dialogue described between Nisha and her parents, they are represented and present in the illustrations.

This text might be read with other books that explore themes of family love, support, and gender identity and expression. Some possible titles are Julián is a Mermaid (Jessica Love, 2018), My Rainbow (Trinity Neal & DeShanna Neal, 2020), and I am Jazz (Jazz Jennings, Jessica Herthel & Shelagh McNicholas, 2014).

The author, Laura Kate Dale, lives in London, UK. She is a transgender woman who enjoys roller derby when she is not writing. Inspiration for this book came from her own childhood in the early nineties. She writes that it was a confusing and lonely time, and she wants to help other trans youth feel seen. Dale has authored books like Uncomfortable Labels (2019) and Stories of Autistic Joy (2023). She is also a video game journalist.

Originally from Malaysia, Hui Qing Ang works as an illustrator and visual development artist in Bristol, United Kingdom. They work in animation and comics as well as children’s literature illustrations. Find out more about them at their website.

Yolanda Huckaby, Texas Woman’s University

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