A Costume for Charly
by C.K. Malone; illus. by Alejandra Barajas
Primary    Beaming    40 pp.    g
9/22    978-1-5064-8405-1    $18.99
e-book ed.  978-1-5064-8406-8    $12.99

“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.”

From the September/October 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.