Trans and queer and nonbinary kids, little or big: \u00a0<\/p>\n
this book is for you. You are never alone. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Every birthday can be a celebration. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Because the world wants you. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Because \u00a0<\/p>\n
everyone who loves you and everyone who will love you \u00a0<\/p>\n
wants you \u00a0<\/p>\n
to be you, \u00a0<\/p>\n
to grow, to live, \u00a0<\/p>\n
to find \u00a0<\/p>\n
everyone who loves you and will love you\u00a0<\/p>\n
so we can all \u00a0<\/p>\n
smile and laugh and sing together. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Happy Birthday!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Happy Birthday! Because \u00a0<\/p>\n
with everyone you love and will love \u00a0<\/p>\n
you can feel like your body is made of feathers\u00a0<\/p>\n
or flowers all opening at once,\u00a0<\/p>\n
laughing and laughing with everyone laughing\u00a0<\/p>\n
like there\u2019s nothing left for anyone on Earth to cry about. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Because your joy heals this world. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Every single day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And you can get lost in this party \u00a0<\/p>\n
where all your friends are everywhere\u00a0<\/p>\n
just waiting to be found. \u00a0<\/p>\n
On every page, again and again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People who love you so much.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Exactly as you are. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Happy birthday! \u00a0<\/p>\n
We give this world to you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This party to you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And if there is a part of you that hurts,\u00a0<\/p>\n
it belongs\u00a0<\/p>\n
with everyone you love who will love you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because joy will find you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you can dream\u00a0<\/p>\n
you can wake up\u00a0<\/p>\n
and look for joy\u00a0<\/p>\n
and see us all around you,\u00a0<\/p>\n
maybe near, maybe far,\u00a0<\/p>\n
everyone you will love who loves you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Everyone we love together. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Pushing you forward like a giant wave,\u00a0<\/p>\n
towards another night to dream or stay up late, so fun,\u00a0<\/p>\n
towards all the friends you ever imagined,\u00a0<\/p>\n
towards delicious cake\u00a0<\/p>\n
and the warmest times. \u00a0<\/p>\n
And when you need a little quiet \u00a0<\/p>\n
place to remember\u00a0<\/p>\n
where you came from,\u00a0<\/p>\n
with thanks \u00a0<\/p>\n
for all that came before you,\u00a0<\/p>\n
you can know your friends are standing \u00a0<\/p>\n
just outside the room, \u00a0<\/p>\n
happy together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And then, you can let them in again.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Happy Birthday!\u00a0<\/p>\n
Whenever you sing, \u00a0<\/p>\n
you might hear us singing along.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even when you feel alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Thank you for having a birthday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, rest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Take your time \u00a0<\/p>\n
to dream.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tomorrow, we will be waiting for you,\u00a0<\/p>\n
with all the love in the whole world. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Because people like us\u00a0<\/p>\n
have existed since \u00a0<\/p>\n
forever.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We will always exist, and we \u00a0<\/p>\n
will always hold \u00a0<\/p>\n
a space for you. \u00a0<\/p>\n
There is no rush.\u00a0<\/p>\n
You have all the time in the world.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And we \u00a0<\/p>\n
love you. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Rainie\u00a0Oet\u00a0is a trans woman who writes fiction and poetry for adults and young readers. She is the author of the middle grade novel-in-verse\u00a0Glitch Girl!<\/em>\u00a0(Kokila), as well as the picture books\u00a0Robin\u2019s Worlds<\/em>\u00a0and the forthcoming\u00a0Monster Seek<\/em>\u00a0(Astra). She received her MFA in Poetry from Syracuse University, where she was awarded the Shirley Jackson Prize in Fiction. Visit\u00a0rainieoet.com<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trans and queer and nonbinary kids, little or big: \u00a0 this book is for you. You are never alone. \u00a0 Every birthday can be a celebration. \u00a0 Because the world wants you. \u00a0 Because \u00a0 everyone who loves you and everyone who will love you \u00a0 wants you \u00a0 to be you, \u00a0 to grow, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1234,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bookloves.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}