I'm a Girl!

February 22, 2016
Who says that everything fun, fast, messy, noisy, and competitive is the domain of boys? A young rabbit is flabbergasted and furious that when she acts true to herself, she is consistently mistaken for a boy. She strips down to her underpants and impulsively jumps into a pool—a scene Ismail (Specs for Rex) depicts with a marvelous amalgam of devil-may-care splatters and splotches—and a grown-up on a lounge chair shouts, “Hey! Watch out, young man!” She pulls ahead in a footrace, and a bystander says, “Mommy, look. He’s going to win.” “I’m a girl! I’m a girl... I’m a girl!” the rabbit says in a refrain, a sentiment made all the more resounding by bold, hand-drawn typography. By story’s end, she has met a comrade in arms: a lion who is equally eager to define boyhood on his own terms. “Being us is super!” they shout. “We’re us!” Ismail acknowledges that boys face social pressures of their own, but this is a girl’s story, and Ismail’s exuberant watercolors beautifully capture her heroine’s energy and doughty spirit. Ages 3–6. Agent: Vicki Willden-Lebrecht, Bright Literary Agency.

May 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 1-A wrongheaded picture book attempts to celebrate "girl power" and the rejection of traditional gender roles but ends up perpetuating stereotypes. A blue watercolor donkey careens through the pages, speeding, spilling food, banging drums, and barging into others. Every energetic, loud, or careless action prompts a witness to mistake her for a boy, but she proudly responds, "I'm a girl!" each time, usually more than once. While the narration asserts that behaviors like reading books about ships and wanting to win races are not the exclusive purview of men, the work creates a world in which doing any of these things-even riding a scooter at speed-marks the actor as male. The damaging fallacy extends in every direction, though, as the bystanders' sometimes derisive comments, which assume that she's male ("Ugh! Boys are so messy."), support an additional set of (binary) gender stereotypes. The final spreads include a red lion and a boy who dons a grass skirt and shakes maracas along to the donkey's guitar-playing, as the two celebrate their independent thinking. "Being us is SUPER!" they declare while repeatedly proclaiming their genders, at which point the late introduction of a new character stands as the least of the book's issues.

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2016
A spirited young child is proud to be a girl--even if everyone mistakes her for a boy.Even though girls are supposed to be made of sugar and spice, Ismail's spunky protagonist is not. She makes a mess when she eats. She rides so fast on her scooter that when it hits a bump, she's sent flying through the air. Because of her exuberant personality, adults refer to her as "sonny" and "young man." To which she proudly responds, "I'm a girl!" She refuses to change who she is based on others' expectations of how a girl should behave. Her strong self-confidence pushes aside frustration to celebrate being a girl, and she makes a new friend who is just as proud to be a boy. Young readers will giggle over the protagonist's misadventures. Most importantly, readers will relate to her belief that there is "no right or wrong way to play when you play 'pretend.' " Ismail even sneaks in the message that it's OK for boys to play with dolls. Ismail's lively watercolors pop against the minimalist backgrounds, capturing her narrator's energy. She depicts her protagonist as a donkey, surrounding her with a truly diverse cast of anthropomorphic animals.A rallying cry to be enthusiastically true to oneself. (Picture book. 2-5)

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June 1, 2016
Preschool-K A little donkey cartwheels, runs, swims, plays, reads, eats, and more, all with great exuberance. Whether because of behavior stereotypes or clothing, others assume she is a boy. When they say something about heras in Look how fast that boy is going she shouts back, I'm a girl! I'm a girl! Her philosophy is be yourself and be proud. The unsaid message in her pronouncement is, yes, she's a girl and that does not limit her. Young readers will be drawn in by the donkey's confidence and excitement. No adults accompany her, at least as shown in the pictures, but she is young enough to feel OK peeling off her shirt and shorts to swim in only underpants. In the end, our heroine is dancing with another child, who turns out to be a boy. Being us is super, they say, there's no one else we'd rather be. We're us! Lively, loose watercolors give the illustrations a fresh, energetic look, well matched to the young girl's spirit. A zestful celebration of being true to oneself.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)