A KID IS A KID IS A KID

There’s a new kid at school, and they’re tired of being asked all the wrong questions.

Who cares if they identify as a boy or a girl? After the new student voices their concerns, other students join in to share the questions they’ve been asked. One student is asked about their small size, for example, when they’d rather be asked about their prowess at spelling. Another is asked where she comes from when clearly where she currently lives is her home. Still another, who has a prosthetic leg, is asked what they can’t do rather than what they can do. Kid after kid voices the questions they wish they were asked. The text is a clever and heartfelt ode to children who challenge everything including xenophobia, ableism, and the gender binary, and the illustrations feature a diverse array of skin colors and hair textures, communicating racial and ethnic diversity. The author’s inclusion of more mundane examples of difference—like, for example, a White child who loves to read—is clearly meant to communicate that all children are unique in their own way. Unfortunately, these examples detract from the book’s message about challenging oppressive systems of power: Being asked about one’s reading habits is, after all, not at all equivalent to being harassed for being gender nonbinary, for being an immigrant, or for being disabled. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A heartwarming but not revolutionary book about inclusion.