A costume for Charly

CK Malone

Book - 2022

Charly thinks outside the box to find a Halloween costume that represents their feminine and masculine identities equally.

Saved in:

Children's Room Show me where

j394.2646/Malone
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
Children's Room j394.2646/Malone Checked In
Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
Minneapolis, MN : Beaming Books 2022.
Language
English
Main Author
CK Malone (author)
Other Authors
Alejandra Barajas (illustrator)
Physical Description
1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 28 cm
Audience
Ages 5-8.
ISBN
9781506484051
Contents unavailable.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Young Charly, portrayed with brown skin, can't decide whether to be "fabulous or frightening" for Halloween, but they know one thing for sure: this year's costume has to be "something that showed they were both a boy and a girl." Barajas's slick, animation-like illustrations have a slice-of-life energy as they envision Charly assessing the options in the costume box: a Red Riding Hood outfit makes Charly's "boy half felt eaten by the wolf," while a Dracula costume "took a bite out of their girl half." Momentarily disheartened ("Why can't there be a costume just for me?"), Charly musters some ingenuity worthy of Project Runway. In Malone's earnest prose, there is never any doubt in this protagonist, who does whatever it takes to feel "one hundred percent Charly." An afterword discusses bigender identity. Ages 4--12. (Sept.)

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Horn Book Review

"Charly rummaged through the mishmash in the old costumes box for something that showed they were both a girl and a boy." (An appended note identifies Charly as bigender.) The Red Riding Hood costume they find feels too feminine; the Dracula one, too masculine -- neither expresses wholly who they are. Then Charly has an idea: to create "one [costume] from two." And on Halloween night, out trick-or-treating with friends, they feel "one hundred percent Charly." Cartoony illustrations capture Charly's determination to find the right costume, and the way wearing it ultimately makes them feel "joyfully jazzed" and "harmoniously hopeful." Martha V. Parravano September/October 2022 p.44(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.