A useful conversation starter.
This picture-book guide introduces the concepts of pronouns, gender identity, and sex traits through the instruction of two narrator characters.
Welcoming readers with smiles and waves, Ellie, a Black child, and her friend Casey, a White teen, jump into a back-and-forth lesson about pronouns. After presenting the basics of what a pronoun is and examples of how to use one, they explain the traditional role of pronouns to indicate a male or female “biological sex.” Their conversation shifts into gender identity, providing definitions for “cisgender, transgender, nonbinary, and several other identities that fall under the umbrella of nonbinary. Although Ellie and Casey start with a binary foundation, they explore alternative singular pronouns, including they/them/theirs and neo-pronouns such as fae and xe and their different forms. Presented entirely through dialogue (often in speech bubbles), their guidance makes an important distinction between gender identity and pronouns, noting that anyone can use any pronouns, with encouragement to try out whichever pronouns feel good. Along with Casey and Ellie, diversely illustrated characters demonstrate etiquette, including how to ask someone’s pronouns or how to react after accidentally misgendering someone. Despite these strengths, the book falters in its consideration of intersex people. The definition of intersex appears out of place on the same page with neo-pronouns rather than during the discussion about sex. Additionally, the language that explains sex falls short in comparison to the rest of the sensitive standard of education in this guide. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A useful conversation starter. (resources, glossary, further reading) (Informational picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-78775-957-2
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
A sweet and endearing feathered migration.
A relationship between a Latina grandmother and her mixed-race granddaughter serves as the frame to depict the ruby-throated hummingbird migration pattern.
In Granny’s lap, a girl is encouraged to “keep still” as the intergenerational pair awaits the ruby-throated hummingbirds with bowls of water in their hands. But like the granddaughter, the tz’unun—“the word for hummingbird in several [Latin American] languages”—must soon fly north. Over the next several double-page spreads, readers follow the ruby-throated hummingbird’s migration pattern from Central America and Mexico through the United States all the way to Canada. Davies metaphorically reunites the granddaughter and grandmother when “a visitor from Granny’s garden” crosses paths with the girl in New York City. Ray provides delicately hashed lines in the illustrations that bring the hummingbirds’ erratic flight pattern to life as they travel north. The watercolor palette is injected with vibrancy by the addition of gold ink, mirroring the hummingbirds’ flashing feathers in the slants of light. The story is supplemented by notes on different pages with facts about the birds such as their nest size, diet, and flight schedule. In addition, a note about ruby-throated hummingbirds supplies readers with detailed information on how ornithologists study and keep track of these birds.
A sweet and endearing feathered migration. (bibliography, index) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5362-0538-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: March 26, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era.
The New Orleans school child who famously broke the color line in 1960 while surrounded by federal marshals describes the early days of her experience from a 6-year-old’s perspective.
Bridges told her tale to younger children in 2009’s Ruby Bridges Goes to School, but here the sensibility is more personal, and the sometimes-shocking historical photos have been replaced by uplifting painted scenes. “I didn’t find out what being ‘the first’ really meant until the day I arrived at this new school,” she writes. Unfrightened by the crowd of “screaming white people” that greets her at the school’s door (she thinks it’s like Mardi Gras) but surprised to find herself the only child in her classroom, and even the entire building, she gradually realizes the significance of her act as (in Smith’s illustration) she compares a small personal photo to the all-White class photos posted on a bulletin board and sees the difference. As she reflects on her new understanding, symbolic scenes first depict other dark-skinned children marching into classes in her wake to friendly greetings from lighter-skinned classmates (“School is just school,” she sensibly concludes, “and kids are just kids”) and finally an image of the bright-eyed icon posed next to a soaring bridge of reconciliation. (This book was reviewed digitally.)
A unique angle on a watershed moment in the civil rights era. (author and illustrator notes, glossary) (Autobiographical picture book. 6-8)Pub Date: Sept. 6, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-338-75388-2
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Orchard/Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2022
PERSPECTIVES
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