Book Review: Sam Is My Sister
Sam Is My Sister, by Ashley Rhodes-Courter, Albert Whitman & Co., ISBN: 9780807506516, 2021, 29 pages, paperback $16.99.
Sam Is My Sister is a children’s book about a transgender child’s transition process and how it affects her relationships with her family members. The book starts by describing the positive relationship between three young siblings who all relate to each other as brothers. As time passes, Sam begins to express interest in things associated with femininity (like sparkly books and having long hair), and Evan (the older brother) begins to notice these changes and is confused by them. Sam’s parents communicate with one another, as well as Sam’s siblings, about the changes they are noticing in Sam. They consider how to support Sam’s right to make decisions and keep Sam safe. Eventually, Sam’s parents seek out support in learning how to best support Sam and come to discuss gender with Sam in a way that helps her to realize that she is transgender.
At the end of the book is a particularly meaningful Author’s Note in which Rhodes-Courter explains that this book is an autobiographical retelling of an experience she has had as a parent with a transgender child, describing how her roles as a mother and a clinical social worker led her to engage in research for the book. Her hope is that the book will encourage folks to respect and offer compassion and acceptance to gender variant young people.
Some may ask how or why this book is relevant to social work in particular, and I would offer that it is incredibly relevant to some of the issues of discrimination that happen in social work today.
Social workers are likely to come in contact with transgender people for various reasons. One reason is that many insurance companies currently require transgender people to acquire letters from mental health providers in order to start hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or have a gender-affirming surgery. Another reason social workers can expect to engage with trans people in their work is that transgender youth are at much higher risk for homelessness and substance use than many of their cisgender peers (and, as a result, are much more likely to interact with organizations created to serve populations affected by these issues).
Despite this, the Council on Social Work Education has made no requirements of programs to include relevant literature to social work programs about transgender history, identity, or care. Unfortunately this leads to a generation of social workers who often are unprepared to work competently with transgender people.
This book is a small resource that simplifies what gender-affirming relational interactions can look like for a transgender child. It includes resources for education about trans youth and provides information that dispels common myths about trans children and trans folks overall.
In short, this beautiful children’s book contains more information about understanding trans experiences than the entire required curriculum for MSW programs. It can be used to support parents in understanding and normalizing the process of raising a transgender child, teach mental health workers about trans experiences, and much more. I encourage all social workers to read it.
Reviewed by Danie Brawand (he/they), MSW candidate, NYU (2021), intern at The Institute for Human Identity.
