OURS

A message of self-love and friendship and a pronoun primer wrapped into one.

Bright, vibrant pages greet readers as young Black children happily get ready for an outing to the park. One fastidiously applies sunscreen, another ties up electric-blue kicks, and a third adjusts a ball cap to just the right angle before each of them heads out. A fourth friend meets up with them at the park, and the friends have some truly ’til-the-streetlights-come-on fun. Simple text highlighting different pronouns with repetition accompanies each spread: “I love mine / mine” and “she loves hers / hers” steadily building to “you love yours?” set next to a small mirror for readers to practice a bit of self-love as well. And while the question of whether all this love is for rich melanin or clouds of coils or fabulous style or something harder to see is up to readers, the text turns from ambiguity to end on the certainty that love is for “always, always!” During such a boom of introductory pronoun books, it is difficult not to see the absence of gender-neutral or gender-expansive pronouns here as a missed opportunity. However, such simple text does leave some room for young nonbinary or gender-open readers to see themselves in “I love theirs.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Effortlessly uplifting.