All The Colours of The Rainbow

by Rae White

illustrated by Sha'an D'anthes

Published by Hachette Australia
ISBN 9780734423061

Non-binary, transgender author Rae White has taken a topic close to heart to write this picture book for young children to help explain through colours that not all people are the same or fit into traditional genders.

This book is not for every child.

It delves into a controversial topic which should not be influencing young children in this age group, 4-7 years. However, if a child does feel as described in the picture book that one day Jem feels like a boy and also a girl or neither, or dressing as a girl one day happily wanting to wear a yellow dress and do things that girls or boys do and another day wants to dress as a boy, this book could be helpful.

The gentle pastel, expressive illustrations demonstrate the examples given in the text of showing how nature's colours change over the seasons. Or how the sky changes at sunset as a way for explaining the different feelings of gender and non-binary.This doesn't come across as the best way of explaining the differences between humans and flora as they don't correlate.

The author

Rae White is a non-binary transgender writer, educator and zine maker. Their poetry collection Milk Teeth won the 2017 Arts Queensland Thomas Shapcott Poetry Prize, was shortlisted for the 2019 Victorian Premier's Literary Awards and commended in the 2018 Anne Elder Award.Rae's second poetry collection, Exactly As I Am, was shortlisted for the 2023 Prime Minister's Literary Awards and 2023 Queensland Literary Awards.

Rae has poems published in Nothing to Hide: Voices of Trans and Gender-Diverse Australia and also contributed a piece to Dear Lover. Rae is the Creative Director and Founder of community poetry initiative Uplift Poetry, and the Founding Editor of #EnbyLife, a journal for non-binary and gender-diverse creatives.

The illustrator

Sha'an d'Anthes is the author and illustrator of Zoom and Bandits and is based in Sydney, Australia. Her work is vibrant and playful and is enjoyed by children and adults alike. You can find Sha'an on Instagram and Youtube.