Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah and Ian Hoffman (review)

When Jacob plays dress-up at school, he’d rather wear the princess’ dress and crown than the knight’s shining armor. His mom is skeptical about him wearing a dress to school, so he fashions a “dress-thing” out of towels to wear over his other clothes. Insisting that boys don’t wear dresses, a classmate de-towels Jacob, but that doesn’t stop Jacob from asking if he and his mother can sew a fantastic new purple and white dress to wear. Though hesitant, she agrees, and Jacob wears his dress, giving him courage and confidence on the playground. The thin plot and over-earnest take on its topic makes this story of gender nonconformity more therapeutic than entertaining, but Jacob’s concrete emotional reactions to people’s perceptions of his behavior (“Mom didn’t answer. The longer she didn’t answer, the less Jacob could breathe”) might be helpful to youngsters in similar situations. Case’s illustrations are gentle in their use of the textures of watercolor and gouache to create a slightly fuzzy world in a realistic palette; his characters’ cartoonishness—big heads and dot eyes—also helps with their emotiveness. Although Zolotow’s classic William’s Doll (BCCB 7/72) covers similar ground more effectively, this is still a welcome addition to the recent uptick in picture books about gender nonconforming kids. Back matter includes an author’s note and a note from a social worker on gender nonconformity among younger children.