Dale created the book to provide a resource containing an early trans narrative that was accessible to children.

"[3] The metaphor of a monster to represent gender dysphoria was influenced from negative representations of trans people Dale experienced in her youth.

[4] Dale said that the depictions of trans people she encountered during the early 90s were damaging, and occurred at a time when she needed stories affirming that she wasn't alone in her thoughts.

[3] Dale said that the core narrative "has child-accessible language to talk about the internal experience of being a dysphoric trans person.

"[4] She also wanted to create a resource presenting gender dysphoria and transition in an accessible way to cisgender children.

"[2] They considered the text to mostly flow easily, and described the illustrations as "cute and colorful, with a high-contrast cartoony style.

"[2] They thought, however, that the book relied somewhat on visual shorthand for gender stereotypes and noted that when Nisha is told that she seems to be taller and have a deeper voice than most girls, those traits would not apply to a child at her age.