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Call Me Tree Reader's Guide
An in-depth reading guide for the children's book, Call Me Tree, exploring trees, yoga, and gender.
Reading Guide & Book Reading
Exploring TREES, YOGA, & GENDER
Call Me Tree provides a gentle lead-up to more specific talks about pronouns and gender. Use this book to explore everyone’s right to grow into who they fully are.
BREAKDOWN
gender stereotypes & assumptions
CONNECT
kids to their bodies through Yoga
EXPLORE
multicultural perspectives on gender beyond western ones
More About the Book
Call Me Tree/Llámame Árbol
What does it mean to be like a tree?
For one young child, it all begins as a tiny seed that is free to grow and reach out to others while standing strong and tall—just like a tree in the natural world.With this gentle and imaginative story about becoming your fullest self, Maya empowers young readers to dream and reach . . . and to be as free and unique as trees.
EXPANDS room for kids to just be themselves with pronoun free text.
CENTERS a connection to nature through the use of Tree as a personal reference
Insights and opportunities when exploring the book:
Despite the fact that there are no specific pronouns, reviewers have assumed the main character is a cisgender boy. The main character is actually based on someone assigned girl. The specificity doesn’t matter as much as the opportunity to notice the assumption.
Many of us assume a child with short hair, dressed in a t-shirt and pants is a cisgender boy. What does an assumption like that fully communicate? About gender requirements? fitting in? living up to expectations? being accepted? Who does it leave out and what is the impact of being excluded?