A House for Everyone

This is an excellent book for introducing different gender identities to young children without confusing them with all the big labels. I would most definitely recommend this book. It tells the story of all different type of children working together to build a house on the playground and all the wonderful things that each child contributes. At the end, it discusses how they are all different, but they are all friends.

I liked the idea of the children working together. I didn’t think they way the author talked about what the kids were doing and then talked about how they identified themselves flowed well. I think with most kids, the book would raise more questions than answers.

This is the story about a group of children who come together to build a house for them all to share. Along the way the reader gets to know about each child and what gender they identify and what the like/dislike doing in everyday life.

This is definitely a hot topic at the moment and this is the first book I have read that attempts to address gender identity with children in a child environment (eg. the playground). On the surface this comes across as a good book to use with children on a 1-on-1 basis but I would be wary using it as a whole class book for a couple of reasons which I'll discuss as I go.

The use of 'their' for the non binary child. This was confusing even for me as an adult. I think I read Alex's pages about 5 times just to get that it was talking about one child. I get that Alex identifies as non-binary (neither male or female) but the term 'their' (while widely accepted for this use) is just confusing.If 'their' had been eliminated in favour of just using 'Alex' as the preferred way to be addressed I feel it would be much easier for children to understand.

I also mentioned above that this book has the potential to exclude as much as include. Why? And this is where, if you think too much, the book can get complicated...where is the girl who loves horses and does have long hair? Where is the boy with short hair who likes trucks - Yes, these are often deemed "stereotypical portrayals" of children - but what I've just described is each of my own children - children who have been free to pick and choose what to play with etc. So how do these children relate to the book? The book does mention "other friends come and join us" but there is no context there for connections to be made.

On some level I feel this book is trying too hard to make the point. It's trying to cover everything in a handful of pages and for me it doesn't quite work. An individual book about each child might have worked better - although I acknowledge then it would have been difficult for the overarching theme of working together couldn't be made.

I like the inclusiveness of this book. I think it might be best read one on one with a child rather that as a group, unless there was a need to. I'm not sure how all of it works with gender any more. As far as I can tell, it's all about who or what you feel you need to be at any given time and that's confusing. I personally would not use it with a young child, unless said child announced it was some other sex than that which it was born. I would never give a small child an option to be other, but would never discourage a child from playing with particular toys or activities as they they were only for one particular sex or another. Gender biases always troubled me when it came to toys. I know of far too many little boys who's mothers made fun of them for wanting baby dolls. And girls who were discouraged from playing with science sets. Just wrong. But anyone identifying as a plural really puzzles me. I have yet to find a book that explains that. Nice illustrations.

I like the concept of this book, and I think the story is very well done. The purpose is to help people learn about gender identity and gender expression. The only thing I don’t like are the illustrations. They are not bad, and others will love them.

This book does a good job of introducing children who identify or express their gender differently than the widely known cisgender.

The children are introduced and their gender identity/expression explained, and then the end of the book talks more about them working together.

For the most part, I like the simple education that this book provides. The introductions for the kids are a little bit choppy.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the read.

While this book bends over to be inclusive, and gender fluid, and make sure everyone comes to the party, so to speak, it spends so much time pattying itself on the back, it kind of foregets to have an engaging story. I almost feel as though the whole book is an introduction to all the different genders of the kids at this particular school, and we never get to the meat of the story.

And while the pictures are very colorful, and the different ways to be a child are explained in great detail, I left wondering what I had just read. I had to read it again to make sure I hadn't missed anything.

So, I like the principle of the story, that "even though we are all a little bit different, we are still the same and we are friends."


So, good introduction to kids on gender identity, but this would not be a book they would fall in love with and read over and over again. This is more to bring up discussions.


<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-394" src="http://www.reyes-sinclair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Screen-Shot-2018-04-13-at-10.40.29-PM.png" alt="" />

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

I wasn’t a fan of the illustrations in “A House for Everyone.” I liked the welcoming message and that so many people were represented. However, I wanted to know more about each one of them, and would have preferred it if their gender had been defined on the same page to promote understanding. Perhaps each character could have their own book, and this could be the first book in the series?

A really cute story for young readers. The illustrations were really diverse and inclusive. I loved the Q&A to have with children after they read the story for further discussion.