10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert & Rex Ray

Ewert, M. (2008). 10,000 dresses (R. Ray, Illustrator). New York, NY: Seven Stories Press.

Summary: Bailey dreams about dresses, beautiful dresses of all kinds made of unusual and special materials. These are dresses she wants. Her parents aren't supportive of her dreams because she is "a boy". Bailey doesn't give up and finds someone to support her.

Review: A beautiful and bittersweet story. The parents infuriate me but I love how Bailey is able to find a friend and ally.

Diversity: This picture book focuses on a child who does not identify with her assigned gender. Bailey's story is such a needed story in elementary schools. Research shows that some children know they do not match with their assigned gender at really early ages, kindergarten or even preschool. This book is a mirror for those children and a window for other children.

Suggestions for Teachers: This book would be a great read-aloud text when studying identity. It also should be a book facing out in classroom libraries so students have access. It should be one that isn't passed up for book talks.

Reading Level:

1. Quantitative: Lexile 540L, ATOS Book Level 2.75-5.14, Flesh-Kincaid 1.98-5.34, 3.53-6.13 RMM
2. Qualitative: This text is moderately complex; it is chronological and there is repetition in events. The language is simple and the images help describe the immense possibility symbolized in Bailey's dream dresses. Understanding that symbolism will be difficult for some children. The themes of perseverance, acceptance and friendship are accessible. It might be difficult for young children to see parents as unsupportive. Older children may be able to make more meaning about the symbolism in this text.

Content Areas: Literacy, Family, Community

Common Core State Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2
Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7
Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)

Relevant links: YouTube Teacher's Guide, Teaching Books, Pillow Project

Subjects/Themes: family, community, acceptance, perseverance, discrimination

Awards: 

Finalist, 2008 Lambda Literary Awards

2009 Rainbow List Book

Honor Book, 2010 Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award

Series Information: N/A

Freakboy by Kristin Elizabeth Clark

Clark, K. E. (2013). Freakboy. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Summary: Brendan Chase might appear to have the perfect life to some. He is on the wrestling team and has a beautiful girlfriend. But Brendan has a secret. Sometimes he doesn't feel like society asks him to feel. In verse, along with two other narrators, Brendan shares his secret and Kristin Elizabeth Clark explores the topic of gender fluidity.

Review: Clark's Freakboy is a powerful read. This book is so necessary in school libraries for all students. Due to some of the sex scenes, I would assign this as 8th grade and up. But many sections of the book could be excerpted for a younger audience. Because Clark writes in verse, this novel moves quickly and the words are razor sharp.

Diversity: Clark explores gender fluidity--when a person doesn't feel like his/her assigned gender. There are few books written about this topic and also it is a diversity that is predominantly unseen by others. This voice is missing in YA literature. Brendan's (and Vanessa's) questioning of themselves normalizes this thought process for others and Angel's strong, decisive character gives us a role model. Gender fluidity is a topic that often doesn't come up when students discuss diversity in middle school. It's a story that is rarely mainstreamed or presented. Clark's novel can be that ally for young people and my hope that it's just the beginning of many other stories about questioning gender and sexuality to fill library shelves so that those who feel this way are not alone. This is a book that needs to be book-talked to students and with the cover faced out in libraries. It needs to be shown off and heard about so it doesn't go unnoticed. As teacher librarians, it's great to have the newest Rick Riordan, but it's books like these that need to be brought to the attention of students.

Suggestions for Teachers: Use this as a core text in an ELA classroom or excerpt it for younger audiences. Teach it as poetry and examine interior monologue, sensory description and diction. This is also a book to plug for independent reading or lit circles.

Reading Level:

1. Quantitative: Lexile 800L, ATOS Book Level 5.8, Flesh-Kincaid 4.5. Readability Grade Level 6.0, RMM
2. Qualitative: This text is moderately complex. There are three narrators and they are telling their side of the story. Each narrator tells his/her story chronologically, but there is no order or pattern and each narrator's story occurs unpredictably. Language is largely contemporary and explicit. Because the text is written in verse, there are more figurative language uses. Students who have some knowledge of gender fluidity will more easily comprehend the text.

Content Areas: English, Contemporary Issues

Common Core State Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.2
Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.3
Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.5
Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.

Relevant links: Teaching Books, Author's Website, LGBTQQ resources, Conversation between Ellen Hopkins and Clark, Interview with Author

Subjects/Themes: LGBTQQ, gender fluidity, transgender, coming of age, identity

Awards: N/A

Series Information: N/A