The transgender teddy bear teaching children about friendship and identity

Prompted by her father’s own decision to transition, Jessica Walton is crowdfunding her children’s book which tells the story of a teddy bear who identifies as female

“Dad told our family she was a woman a couple of years ago,” says Jessica Walton, a secondary-school teacher turned public servant who lives in Melbourne. “This opened my eyes and it opened my mind.”

The experience prompted Walton to embark on a project. Soon after her dad’s transition began, Walton and her partner had their own child, and they started looking for children’s books that reflected their family. And, whereas they did find “great books” that featured gay parents, they had real trouble finding books featuring transgender and gender fluid characters. So she decided to “write the book we wanted to read to our son”.

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