Penelope is sure of two things: He’s a ninja, and he’s a boy. The rest of the world—including his parents, two brothers, and sister—all see him as a girl. But he knows deep inside that he is a boy, one who’d very much like to wear high tops, baggy jeans, button-up shirts, and a Mohawk haircut. He’s a boy who likes skateboarding, karate, math, and science, and when the world doesn’t see him as he is, he sometimes acts out in anger and frustration. When Penelope finds the courage to tell his mom, she helps him tell the rest of the family, as well as his classmates and principal. Everyone accepts who Penelope is right away, and that’s one of the things that makes this picture book about a five-year-old trans boy unusual (and quite welcome). Penelope and his family are African American, and so are his principal, his karate teacher, and most of his school friends. The first-person voice of the narrative pulls readers into the story, while textured digital illustrations show the contrast between the way the world initially sees Penelope and the way he sees himself moving through it. (Ages 4-7)

Jodie Patterson, activist and Chair of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation Board, shares her transgender son's experience in this important picture book about identity and acceptance.

Penelope knows that he's a boy. (And a ninja.) The problem is getting everyone else to realize it.

In this exuberant companion to Jodie Patterson's adult memoir, The Bold World, Patterson shares her son Penelope's frustrations and triumphs on his journey to share himself with the world. Penelope's experiences show children that it always makes you stronger when you are true to yourself and who you really are.