Neither by Airlie Anderson

      To begin with, we learn we are in the world of this (which is full of rabbits) and that (which is full of birds). Our protagonist comes into the frame and it looks a little like a bird and a little like a rabbit -- both this and that reject the protagonist, calling it "Neither" and telling it to go "Somewhere Else." While looking for Somewhere Else, the protagonist stumbles upon the land of all, where all the creatures are a combination of animals and no one questions which side it belongs to. Eventually, even the bullies from The Land of This or That come to the land of all, because they no longer fit in with This or That, even though they look like they should.

      While this book could be seen as having a general message about inclusion -- many online commenters seem to take it that way -- the author has made it clear in several interviews that she wanted to create a book which spoke to very young readers who do not feel that they fit in the gender binary or are trying to understand the concept of the gender binary and nonbinary identities. When you look at this book from this lens, it goes from being a cute book with a nice message about general acceptance to a really impressive work that manages to explain and deconstruct the gender binary in a way that makes sense for very young kids. The Land of This or That is the concept of binary gender and, from the beginning, it is clear that these two things are so limiting.  Most impressively, the metaphor of having the to bullies come back, saying that they were kicked out of This or That as well, demonstrates to readers that the gender binary is limiting to everyone, not just nonbinary-identifying people. At the end of the book, each character has their own identity. There is a character who is "Both," one who is "Very," one who is "Somewhat" and the protagonist is now "Both." This teaches kids that there really are as many genders as there are people.