Author's Note: Yusef and the Yew is a children's storybook centered around nature and how gender and sexuality aren't binary in the realm of nature. My hope is that my book will help children realize that they needn't conform to binary gender if it's uncomfortable. At the very least, I would like to get the gears turning for children who generally don't have exposure to queerness. Sometimes, this is a difficult message to express without using medical or highly sexualized terms. I tried using language centered around love and self expression, hoping to de-stigmatize and de-sexualize queerness. By reading this book with your children, you might prevent some of the gender dichotomized socialization our children absorb.

Preview audio:

storyj.mp/afhbazbzezft

Yusef is 12 years old. He lives in Britain with his mom and dad. All of Yusef's friends have a mom and a dad.

Near Yusef's home, there is a forest. In this forest, the oldest Yew tree in all of Great Britain grows. This tree is 5,000 years old.

Maybe this tree didn't have a mom or a dad. Maybe this tree had a mom that was once a dad and a dad that was once a mom.

One day, while playing in the forest, Yusef stumbled across the 5,000 year old Yew tree. The tree had a smile on it's face and said, "Hello there, Yusef. Do you see my berries and my flowers?"

Yusef knew that boy Yew trees grew flowers and girl Yew trees grew berries. He was confused by this tree having both. "Are you a boy or a girl?" He asked.

"You could say I am neither and you could say I am both. After thousands of years, I just wanted to change things up. Do you ever feel that way, Yusef?" The tree responded.

"I think of myself as a boy, but sometimes," Yusef said before pausing for a moment. "...I see my school friends wearing skirts and I want to wear one too. Like your berries and your flowers. Is that normal?" He asked.

"Of course," the tree said. "...Being a boy and bring a girl are just ideas. There are no rules you must follow. Let me tell you a little about these ideas in nature, starting with the frogs..."