What Riley Wore

May 6, 2019
Riley has an outfit for each day’s experiences. On Monday, the first day of school, the child combats shyness by wearing a bunny costume; for a rainy Friday, it’s rubber boots, a tutu, and a police officer jacket. And for a Sunday trip to the park, Riley throws together an outfit that includes purple jeans, the tutu, and a hat with dinosaur spikes. At the playground, a kid asks Riley, “Are you a girl or a boy?” Arnold (Damsel) doesn’t employ a gendered pronoun for her protagonist, and bright, rounded illustrations by Davick (It’s Not Easy Being Mimi) show Riley in states ranging from pajama clad at school to dressed up in a ball gown for dinner (“Ball gowns are the fanciest”). Riley’s answer at the park is equally and confidently nonbinary—“Today I’m a firefighter. And a dancer. And a monster hunter. And a pilot. And a dinosaur”—and everyone is cool with that. (“Want to play?” the child asks.) By connecting Riley’s gender nonconforming to the costumed role-playing that most kids engage in, the creators take this timely subject matter into a refreshing realm: normalcy. Ages up to 8. Agent: Rubin Pfeffer, Rubin Pfeffer Content.

June 1, 2019
Is Riley a girl or a boy? Riley decides to answer an entirely different question through the creative self-expression of their clothing. Each day of the week, Riley invents a new outfit to wear to school, around the house, and to the park. The tan-skinned, dark-haired protagonist has clothing for every mood and occasion: a bunny suit for first-day-of-school shyness, "a superhero cape to the dentist's because teeth cleaning is scary," and a tutu, perfectly mismatched with a dinosaur hat, for the weekend. Instead of making Riley a target of bullies, the gender-fluid ensembles draw their classmates in. Heartwarmingly, Arnold and Davick depict the spectacularly nongendered protagonist in positive connection with the people around them. Children are at the center of this colorful story: Adults, when they appear, mostly line the periphery of Davick's double-page-spread illustrations while classmates of various skin tones are featured in cheerful detail. In the growing landscape of children's books that explore gender, this offering beautifully normalizes the multifaceted gender expressions people can have, demonstrates the support adults can provide to nonbinary children, and models how easily young ones can relate to one another without having to choose between two gender options. Though Riley's gender identity is never explicitly stated in the narrative, Arnold and Davick's entertaining tale speaks volumes about the creativity of nonbinary kids. Riley's courageous vulnerability is refreshing, fun, and worthy of celebration. (Picture book. 3-9)

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2019
Preschool-K Riley's a creative kid who loves to mix up their wardrobe. Each day of the week, Riley decides to wear something unexpected, like a bunny costume on the first day of school, outer space pajamas for a lesson on the planets, or a ballgown to dinner. Riley has a perfectly good reason for choosing each day's outfit (a superhero cape for a nerve-wracking visit to the dentist, for instance, because Riley wanted to be brave ), and through it all, adventurous Riley gets plenty of support from parents, adults, and other children, most of whom are delighted by Riley's choices. One question at the end? are you a girl or a boy? ?is the only mention of gender, and Riley's answer, Today I'm a firefighter. And a dancer. And a monster hunter. And a pilot. And a dinosaur, is good enough for everyone. Arnold playfully addresses identity, and Riley's recurring thoughts about how to make friends should resonate with a wide array of kids. Bold artwork in bright colors and cartoonishly rounded figures gives this amiable picture book even more appeal.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)