Are you a boy or are you a girl? by Sarah Savage and Fox Fisher

This book is a fantastic resource for introducing the concept to children that not everyone is defined by the gender they were assigned at birth. The character in the story takes part in activities successfully without ever defining themselves by gender. It also gives a good example of adult support when another child questions the lead character.

This is a wonderful and positive celebration of transgender awareness. Highly recommended.
Buy the book here: http://sarah-savage.com/product/book/

The Whisperer by Nick Butterworth

I've been using "The Whisperer" for about ten years in Primary classrooms to teach about accepting diversity and difference and it is one of my favourite stories to use in Year 5 and 6. The story can also be used to discuss gang culture, family expectations and why and how two people fall in love. In short, it makes for a great basis to a PSHE lesson.

The story focuses on two gangs of cats and is narrated by a rat who discovers by spreading rumours about the offspring of the two rival gang leaders falling in love, he can deflect attention away from him. This also gives us a fantastic opportunity to discus why people spread rumours and the effect on a community.

The story has a fantastic ending where the two rival gang leaders change their behaviour and also the rumour-spreading rat has his comeuppance.

A super story for upper key stage 2. I cannot recommend this enough.

A lesson plan using this story is included in forthcoming resource, "No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the Equality Act in Primary Schools." Available soon from www.speechmark.net

Picnic in the park by Joe Griffiths, Tony Pilgrim, Lucy Pearce

"Picnic in the park" is a great way to demonstrate the No Outsiders ethos where no one is left out and everyone is made to feel welcome. Jason has a birthday picnic and each page shows a different family arriving; by the end there is a mix of gender, race, disability, sexual orientation, age.

The focus for me when I use this in Year 2,3 and 4 classes is that Jason does nor turn anyone away; everyone is different in some way and everyone is welcome; "A bit like in our school," I say, "Where there are no outsiders!"

When reading this in Year 2 classes we have our own picnic and I ask children to come to a picnic rug in a family of their choosing. We make sure everyone is welcome; in this way we also talk about British Values where society is diverse and furthermore we like living alongside people and families who are diverse. 

Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly by Sue Heap and Nick Sharratt

"Red Rockets and Rainbow Jelly" is a perfect picture book to start equalities education in Reception class. Nick and Sue like different things on every page but at the end they still like each other. I use this in EYFS and Year 1 to demonstrate that we can like different things yet we can still be friends.

This ethos underpins all of the equalities work I do in schools and I always begin with this book when training teachers who may be feeling a little nervous about what equalities education is. The book is simple, but the simplicity makes it effective. The beautiful illustrations and blocks of colour make it engaging for young children. Every early years classroom needs this book in their book corner!

Nanny Fox by Georgie Adams and Selina Young

"Nanny Fox" provides teachers with a great vehicle to discuss diversity and difference and promote individuality. When Fox announces to his family that he wishes to look after chicks on a farm rather than eat them, his family is horrified because that's not what foxes do!

Fox wins through in the end, demonstrating that not all foxes are the same. I use this in Year 3 and 4 to discuss people being unique and not always conforming to expectations.

The odd egg by Emily Gravett

I use "The odd egg" to talk about families being different and parents being proud of their different children.

All the birds have an egg except Duck, who goes to find one. While the other eggs gradually hatch, Duck's egg stays whole till the last page where a completely different animal suddenly appears. I focus on the final image where the baby animal calls Duck "Mama" illustrating a different family but one filled with love.

The exciting and humorous illustrations make this book a favourite and I use it in classes from Year 1-5.

10,000 dresses by Marcus Ewert

10,000 dresses is a great book through which to explore gender expectations and roles. Bailey dreams of wearing dresses and despite Mum and Dad and brother saying Bailey is a boy and should not wear a dress, we never find out what gender Bailey identifies as. At the end Bailey makes a friend who does not label either way and doesn't care; together they create the most fabulous dress Bailey could ever want.

I've used this book to talk about including children who may be transgender in our school. Would Bailey be welcome at our school? Of course! We are all different at our school and we welcome everyone!

Prince Henry- Olly Pike (Pop@n@Olly)

I have started using this in Year 2 and 3 in my own school because it's a great story which demonstrates two men can get married without any reaction from those around. However there is so much more to the story, which also presents an opportunity to discuss whether laws that are unfair should be changed, and shows a character choosing not to get married after all.

Olly Pike is engaging and fun to watch and my class loved this. There are some great resources on www.popnolly.com and I highly recommend taking a look.

Prince Henry is available in book form here

And Tango Makes Three- Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

"And Tango Makes Three" is a wonderful book to teach children about different families. Roy and Silo are two male penguins who are in love and when the zoo keeper sees the couple copy the nest making behaviour exhibited by the other couples in the Penguin house, he gives them an egg.

Tango becomes the first baby penguin in the zoo to have two daddies. This is a true story and you can see Roy, Silo and Tango if you visit New York City Zoo.

This was one of the first books I used that explored same sex relationships and different families and was part of the No Outsiders book list back in 2006. I am overjoyed to see it being re-published in 2015.

See lesson plans for this book in
"Emotional Health and well being: 100+ lesson plans for the primary classroom" by Andrew Moffat (Speechmark 2012)
and
"No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the equality act in primary schools" (Speechmark 2015)

Frog Is Frog - Max Velthuijs

Frog finds lots of things he can't do; he can't fly like Duck, bake cakes like Pig or read books like Hare. Frog feels useless; "I'm just an ordinary green frog," he sobs.

Hare helps Frog to be proud of who and what he is and by the end of the story, Frog understands the world is full of different animals with different skills. He feels lucky to be Frog.

I use this book to explore difference and promote an acceptance of who we are. There are some things I can't do but at the same time there are some things I am good at. We want children to like the person they are and this story is a great way to reinforce that.

This is our house- Michael Rosen

Perfect for introducing work on equalities in a Primary school and setting out the ethos where there are no outsiders in our school. George refuses to let children join his game and demonstrates discrimination by using their characteristics as the reason; twins, people who wear glasses and people who like tunnels are all denied entry in to his house. By the end of the story George realises that his house is for everyone!

Also great for assemblies. I cannot recommend this book enough.

"This is our house" is included in the book list for "No Outsiders in our school: Teaching the Equality Act in primary Schools" by Andrew Moffat, available soon from Speechmark.