THE SPECTACULAR SUIT

A snazzy kid throws a stylish party.

Frankie is very excited about her “super deluxe garden party,” inviting everyone in her class and decorating the backyard. Her supportive family—single mom, sweet brother, and slightly bratty sister, all White-presenting, like Frankie—help put together the special day, but there’s a wrinkle: Frankie’s mom picks out three dresses for her to choose from, but what Frankie really wants to wear is a suit. Via the succinct text matched with bold, robust, old-fashioned, yet immensely charming illustrations heavily weighted toward yellow, orange, and blue, readers learn that Frankie wants a suit made of “lightning bolts and stars and style.” The pleasantly stocky child draws her ideal suit before giving up on her dream, but then her mother and siblings toil through the night to create it for her. There are some rough spots here and there—the reference to Frankie’s “secret plan” doesn’t quite gel with the rest of the story—as well as some unexplained and uncontextualized anxiety she feels before showing off her new duds. But on the whole, this is a delightful, affirming story about finding your unique look without reducing it to simplistic, black-and-white, or reductive ideas about gender presentation.

One of a kind.