The Internet is flooded with “gender reveal” videos — something expectant couples film after they learn of the child’s gender. It usually comprises bursting balloons or setting off smoke bombs in shades of pink and blue. Although this isn’t a trend in our country, we’ve grown up with defining gender as a binary. So, when we come across a children’s book, Guthli Has Wings (Tulika Publishers), which released last week and addresses gender identity, we wonder how the author would illustrate a subject — that adults have trouble understanding — for those aged six years and above.

Written by Bhopal-based Kanak Shashi, the story of Guthli, a free-spirited child who loves wearing his sister’s frilly frock, doesn’t just depict a transition of gender identity alone, but also how a parent (like Guthli’s mum) comes to terms with it — initially shrugging off the idea when her son asks, “And why do you keep saying I’m a boy when I’m a girl?”