Jazz: the trans voice in north american picturebooks for children

Abstract

Since the 1970s, English-language children's literature has broadened its thematic repertoire by incorporating narratives that address different dimensions of cultural and social diversity. Gender issues, for instance, have received increasing attention from the publishing market, literary critics, and readers. In this context, this bibliographical and exploratory study aims to analyze the picturebook I Am Jazz, written by Jazz Jennings and Jessica Herthel, with illustrations by Shelagh McNicholas (2014). The study examines the representation of transgender identity in childhood, paying particular attention to gender stereotypes and how the social relationships and negotiations experienced by the protagonist are conveyed through the interplay of text and illustration. The theoretical framework draws on the works of Butler (2015), Meadow (2018), Hill (2020), Favero (2020), Madalena (2021), among others. The analysis demonstrates that the book, authored by a transgender writer, contributes to the construction of a narrative that expands the possibilities of identification and recognition for transgender children within a society that remains strongly structured by normative conceptions of gender.