Illustrated by Isabelle Malenfant
3 stars
A touching story about Morris Micklewhite, whose favorite part of school is the dress-up center and the swish, swish, swish of the tangerine dress the color of his mother’s hair. Morris is bullied for wearing the dress by his classmates and told that “boys don’t wear dresses”. But Morris knows better. He continues to be himself and let his creative side show.
Nice themes of being yourself and the power of imagination.
Sweet illustrations. The artwork is very pretty and I love the colors used.
I wish the messages were more overt and the issues were more explicitly talked through. The book was published over 10 years ago so I think it was good for it’s time, but want more in today’s context.
The bullying presented was pretty intense. The children make fun of him, physically try to take the dress off of him, chase after him calling him names, exclude him, and say things like “We don’t want you to turn us into girls”.
Morris learns to have the confidence to stand up for himself, which is wonderful. But no one discusses with the other children why they are wrong or how what they are doing is hurtful.
Personally, I didn’t love the ending all that much. The boys eventually recognize Morris’ creativity and join in on his adventures, but I didn’t like that they only seem to accept Morris once he shows them cool ways to play (i.e. when it benefits them). They learn how a person dresses doesn’t matter but we don’t actually see their growth. They don’t stand up for him when another child tells him he can’t wear the dress.
Overall, it was nice read. I would have liked to see it do more, but I think it was a good stepping stone for its time.