ANN ARBOR, MI - Carolyn Herrmann sat before a group at Bookbound on Thursday, Dec. 6, and read a children’s picture book about Jazz, a child who likes mermaids and “has a girl brain but a boy body.”

The story about a transgender child who transitions from presenting as a boy to a girl is based on the life of Jazz Jennings, a Human Rights Commission youth ambassador who co-authored the book - titled “I Am Jazz” - with Jessica Herthel.

The reading and panel discussion at Bookbound bookstore in Ann Arbor was one of several events planned for bookstores, libraries and schools in Washtenaw and Livingston counties this week as part of a campaign to use “I Am Jazz” to help children understand that being transgender means a person’s sense of gender does not match their physical sex.

Herrmann has seen in her own family why introducing transgender issues to children is important.

Her 15-year-old son Eli found the words to describe his gender identity after watching a YouTube video of another transgender teen. Eli was 12 when he told his family he is transgender.

“It resonated on a very deep level with him and spoke to his truth,” said Hermann, an Ann Arbor native. “He had the proverbial light bulb go off over his head and knew ‘that’s me.’”

Eli was part of a video published by the Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health where local families, medical professionals and elected officials read “I Am Jazz.” Herthel recorded an introduction thanking Washtenaw and Livingston counties for their efforts to “spread a message of inclusivity and unconditional love.”

Video courtesy of Michigan Organization on Adolescent Sexual Health

“It’s so important for young people to see themselves reflected in the curriculum and in the stories that they’re reading. We just hope that this work can really help promote inclusion and affirmation,” said Taryn Gal, executive director of MOASH, which coordinates a Transgender Taskforce that organized the local “I Am Jazz” events.

These events have included readings at local schools.

And some parents have voiced concerns about the book being read to elementary school children during the school day. An online petition asking Saline Area Schools to abandon the reading planned for Friday, Dec. 7, received 1,625 signatures in five days.

Many of the “signatures” on the petition directed at Saline schools were anonymous, and some people who signed live out-of-county or out-of-state.

“It is a serious mistake on many levels to introduce this controversial view of transgender on the whole district. It is confusing to children, contradicts our faith community’s beliefs, and oversteps the school’s role,” the petition states.

Saline Schools announced on Facebook Wednesday that parents could have their children opt out of the “I Am Jazz” reading and instead “participate in a 10-minute alternative activity.”

“The County and District’s goal is to support a positive school and community environment that recognizes the differences among all of us,” states a message to families from Saline schools administration and school board members regarding the "I Am Jazz” reading.

In May 2017, Saline parents successfully pressured school administrators to cut ties with Planned Parenthood, which was going to train students as peer educators to lead lessons on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer issues as part of the school’s sex education curriculum.

Herrmann had to stop reading some of the online comments related to the petition, she said, because she started having chest pains.

“They’re talking about my child and children like him as if they’re almost not human,” she said. “They’re failing to see … that their words can have a harmful impact.”

It’s important for transgender students to see themselves represented in books and movies at school, Herrmann said, and for all students to learn to understand people who are different than them.

“Preventing kids from listening to this story doesn’t change the fact that transgender kids exist and are among their peers,” she said. “What message does this send to transgender kids that their experience is not important to learn about?”