Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress
by Christine Baldacchino (Author) Isabelle Malenfant (Illustrator)
A young boy faces adversity from classmates when he wears a tangerine colored dress to school.
Morris is a little boy who loves using his imagination. But most of all, Morris loves wearing the tangerine dress in his classroom's dress-up center. The children in Morris's class don't understand. Dresses, they say, are for girls. And Morris certainly isn't welcome in the spaceship some of his classmates are building. Astronauts, they say, don't wear dresses.
One day when Morris feels all alone and sick from their taunts, his mother lets him stay home from school. Morris dreams of a fantastic space adventure with his cat, Moo. Inspired by his dream, Morris paints the incredible scene he saw and brings it with him to school. He builds his own spaceship, hangs his painting on the front of it and takes two of his classmates on an outer space adventure. With warm, dreamy illustrations, Isabelle Malenfant perfectly captures Morris's vulnerability and the vibrancy of his imagination.
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School Library Journal
PreS-Gr 1--Throughout this heartening story, touches of tangerine point to the elements in Morris's world that are important to him: his mother's flaming tresses; his cat, Moo; and a dress from the school dress-up box. When he wears it, he feels wonderful. White is a well-chosen background foil for Malenfant's watercolors and charcoals; the soft acrylics comprising the vibrant dress "bleed"-a perfect effect for indicating movement. A marvelous spread shows Morris reveling in the color that swirls across the gutter as he thinks about his mother's hair, tigers, and the sun. The text details the fabric's swishes and crinkles and the click of the boy's heels. When the children tease and ostracize him, he pretends not to notice, but by Friday, he stays home with a stomachache. The role of adults is particularly well handled. There is no deus ex machina (teacher intervention), a situation that rings true for many such interactions. His mother does not pass judgment when she notices a boy wearing a dress in her son's painting, and she complies with his desire for nail polish. This support and Morris's irrepressible imagination buoy him as he returns to school, where his creative spaceship is a magnet for the boys; walls begin to crumble. Baldacchino offers an alternative model for families to the one depicted in Marcus Ewert's 10,000 Dresses (Seven Stories, 2008), and rather than presenting an overt message about gender identity, the book provides a subtle and refreshing glimpse at a boy who simply likes to dress up.--Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library
Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.Publishers Weekly
Baldacchino debuts with a sensitive story that joins books like My Princess Boy and Jacob's New Dress on a growing shelf of titles that offer support and understanding to gender-nonconforming boys. Baldacchino's redheaded hero loves wearing the tangerine dress in his classroom's dress-up center: "It reminds him of tigers, the sun and his mother's hair." A significant part of the book's strength lies in the author's portrait of Morris as a boy with much more to him than what he wears: Morris likes painting, puzzles, running around outside, and pretending to be an astronaut--the dress is just one of many things he enjoys. His classmates aren't so accepting, and Baldacchino doesn't sugarcoat the teasing and isolation Morris endures. Working in charcoal, watercolor, and other media, Malenfant (Once Upon a Balloon) showcases Morris's full emotional spectrum: the joy the dress brings him, the hurt his peers' taunts inflict, the refuge he finds at home with his quietly supportive mother, and the satisfaction that accompanies his success in helping two classmates understand that "it didn't matter if astronauts wore dresses or not." Ages 4-7. (May)
Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.Review quotes
"[R]ather than presenting an overt message about gender identity, the book provides a subtle and refreshing glimpse at a boy who simply likes to dress up." — "School Library Journal"
Christine Baldacchino is a graphic artist and web designer with a background in early childhood education. She lives in Toronto. Isabelle Malenfant has illustrated more than a dozen children's books, mixing mediums such as watercolor, pastel, and charcoal to create poetic and sensitive worlds. She lives in Montreal.
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
JUV048000 - Juvenile Fiction | Clothing & Dress
