10,000 Dresses: 08/23/11

10,000 Dresses by Marcus Ewert is about a child named Bailey who was born a boy but sees herself as a girl and has plans to be a dress designer. Bailey's family doesn't want to talk about dresses or the fact that he sees himself as a she. If he'll just shut up and put up the problem will go away. Except it doesn't and fortunately for Bailey's sake, there is a dress designer down the street who is willing to support her dreams.

It's a book that was on my wishlist and I probably heard about it from the I'm Here. I'm Queer. What the Hell Do I Read? blog. I honestly don't recall for sure. But we live in the Bay Area and Ewert is a local author.

I read 10,000 Dresses to both my children. Neither are gender confused but neither is exactly conventional in their boyishness or girlishness. They have nearly identical likes and dislikes except one is a girl and one is a boy. They sat and listened to the book and when I was done they began debating Bailey's gender. In the end though (when they couldn't decide) they decided that it didn't matter, but what did, was that Bailey's parents were mean. Dressmaking or wearing shouldn't be just a girl thing, they decided.

Four stars.

<Comments (4)

Comment #1: Wednesday, August, 24, 2011 at 00:08:55

Joanna

Loved your kids' discussion on this book :)

Comment #2: Saturday, August 27, 2011 at 20:55:00

Pussreboots

Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Comment #3: Tuesday, August, 30, 2011 at 01:24:57

MarthaE

Well - now this was a surprise. But then I rarely know what to expect when I peek at your reviews. :-) It sounds like your children got a positive message realizing the parents were not very understanding to Bailey.

Comment #4: Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 20:00:12

Pussreboots

I like to listen to them debate a book we've read together. This one was especially interesting.