FICTION

Felix's New Skirt

by Kerstin BRICHZIN
illus. by Igor Kuprin. 40p. Minedition. Sept. 2018. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9789888341580.
COPY ISBN
PreS-Gr 2—German author and illustrator team Brichzin and Kuprin tells a simplified gender expression story with Felix's preference for skirts over pants. His big sister is happy to trade her skirt for his black jeans, Mom takes him to the shops for the perfect red skirt, and Dad wears a skirt in solidarity when they both walk to school. Sales staff, classmates, and classmates' parents frown and disapprove, but Felix and his family persevere. Felix explains to a boy who tells him he looks funny, "'I want to wear what I like, and for me that's skirts and dresses,'" so, "From that day on no one asked if he was a boy or a girl. They simply called him Felix." Functional illustrations are line drawings with smudgy watercolors that complement the straightforward story.
VERDICT This has a solid message about gender expression and acceptance. An essential purchase for libraries, especially those building their LGBTQIA+ children's collections, along with Leslea Newman's Sparkle Boy and 10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert.
Reviewed by Elaine Fultz, Madison Jr. Sr. High School, Middletown, OH , Sep 01, 2018

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