In Just Like Queen Esther by Kerry Olitzky and Ari Moffic, Atara (a trans girl) loves to wear her crown — to the library, to the dentist, even to her swim lessons. It gives her confidence, and shows the world that she is a girl, not a boy, like everyone first assumes. But when Atara reads the story of Queen Esther on the Jewish holiday of Purim, she realizes that you don’t need a costume to express who you really are.

Who is this book written for?

Ari: We hope that it’s a mirror so kids can see themselves and say “That’s me, that’s who I want to be,” and also a window so that all kids can meet a transgender kid and think about their own sense of self and their own gender expression. And come to form an understanding and a connection to a character. That empathy is really important. The book is for all kids, all caregivers, all synagogues, libraries, so they can feature a whole array of human expression for our kids. It’s a time in the world when we need huge signs and visibility and to be shouting from the hilltops, “Transgender children are real. We believe them. They exist and they are glorious and needed in the world.”

Kerry: There are a bunch of concentric circles of potential readers. Yes, the primary one is the transgender child or the one who sees themselves as a different gender, but there are those circles that go out further and further. I think everybody needs to hear this story and celebrate the child who is the primary character in the story who might be their own child. It might be their neighbor. It might be their grandchild. And we want to help them to love that child.

What about Purim lends itself to writing a story with a trans character?

Ari: It’s the perfect holiday. It’s the holiday with a hero queen who is able to unmask and reveal her true self. It is a queer holiday through and through from its origins. Gender is played with and we’re able to try out new identities and things aren’t as they seem. The rabbis really played with gender and reinterpreting and reading into the story, and so it’s a fantastic lens. We can talk about all of our creative expressions, how we want to be known in the world, and how we’re going to reveal ourselves.

Kerry: I have always had a lot of distaste for the historical way that the Purim story has been handled. It’s been so gender-typed and superficial, especially with the focus on little girls as princesses in beauty contests. I wanted a story that I felt resonated with the idea and revelations of a Jewish trans child that would elevate the Purim story. And that’s why I found, as Ari said, that Purim was a perfect match. 

How does it feel to be releasing this book right now in our political climate?

Ari: I’m so happy that there’s a book — a positive, joyful, happy book featuring a happy kid who’s transgender with lots of friends and opportunities at school and a supportive family. It’s only about love and joy and gaining confidence as all of us want to do and want our kids to do.

Kerry: I think that this book was destined to come out at this time and, therefore, it gives us another tool to push back against the chaos in which we find ourselves — the anti-LGBTQ posture that not only the government is taking but is allowing and fostering on the level of the common folk. We wanted to put something out there that would allow people to see a very different narrative.

You can purchase Just Like Queen Esther at Bookshop or directly from the publisher. 

Rabbi Ari Moffic is a Jewish educator and has written about inclusion focusing on neurodiversity and LGBTQ allyship.

Rabbi Kerry M. Olitzky, named by Newsweek as one of the leading rabbis of North America, is an award-winning author of 100 books. He is an educator and longtime former executive director of Big Tent Judaism, dedicated to engaging interfaith families and the unaffiliated.