WHO YOU WILL BE

A family welcomes their child into the world.

“Before you were born, / we all wanted to know / who you would be and / how you would grow.” As this gently rhyming story begins, expecting parents (one is tan-skinned and pregnant; the other is brown-skinned) prepare for the arrival of their baby. Questions about the little one's gender arise from those around them: “Nursery in pink? Or nursery in blue?” “How will you dress them?” “What will they wear?” The couple’s responses to these good-natured queries emphasize open-mindedness and curiosity: “‘Why, we’ll simply ask them,’ we tried to explain. / ‘For our baby comes with their very own brain!’” When the tan-skinned baby is born, the doting parents dress the child in a wide range of colors and outfits, from hair bows to frog-covered green jammies. Readers may find their assumptions about the baby’s gender shifting through illustrator Chomiak’s joyous cartoon art, which depicts the family’s everyday moments of connection and play. Rouanzion concludes by inviting readers to consider a “rainbow of choices, colorful and bright. / What feels best to you? / Which colors are right?”—a powerful message that children and adults alike can benefit from.

Models easy, loving acceptance for kids, no matter their gender expression.