CONNOR KISSED ME

A script about consent.

Miriam, pigtailed and wearing overalls, is chasing a soccer ball on a busy playground when Connor runs up and aggressively delivers a kiss—“MWAH!”—on the lips. Worried and upset, the brown-skinned child tells everyone: a friend, the playground monitor, the teacher, the bus driver, and, finally, Mom (brown-skinned like Miriam). Everyone responds differently, from a simple “Ew!” to “Maybe we’ll move your seat” to frustrating excuses, until Mom asks the simple question: “Did you want him to?” Miriam decides no (seemingly in the moment) and tells everyone, in reverse order, until finally confronting Connor himself. The boy (whose skin is slightly lighter than Miriam’s) offers the sole defense of “But I like you,” and his future kisses are firmly rebuffed in an abrupt ending. The straightforward, unembellished nature of this narrative makes it useful as a teaching tool but less satisfying as a story, especially given that some of the adults’ unhelpful language flips on a dime the moment Miriam makes it clear that Connor’s actions are unwanted (“I don’t want Connor to kiss me.” “Then he can’t”). The illustrations are similarly workaday, cartoony depictions of exactly what’s described in the text, with diverse background characters filling out each scene. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Useful and purpose-driven.