Sarah McBride has always known two things: That she “wanted to change the world” and that she “knew who she was inside.” In this warm and inspiring biography, we first see her as a child, building models of the White House and reading about the presidents—and knowing that she was a girl, even though, “because of the body she was born in, everyone saw and treated her as a boy.”
She cried herself to sleep and worried that people might not love her if she wasn’t the boy they thought she was. Even her mom laughed at characters who didn’t follow gender roles. She tried to be the boy they saw her as.
Inspired by a neighborhood encounter with Delaware’s then-state senator (whom adult readers will recognize as Joe Biden), she deepened her involvement in politics, even being elected student body president in college.
Now that she was older, though, she had done research and learned what it meant to be transgender. She knew that trans people “have existed throughout time and cultures” (and we see many of them in the illustration). She came out to close family and friends, who stood by her. She told the student body, who celebrated her, and “The sunshine broke through the clouds as she walked into her new life.”
McBride then achieved many firsts: the first openly trans person to work at the White House, speak at the Democratic convention, and be a state senator. Although she had feared that she couldn’t have both of her two truths at once, she actually could, “opening the doors of opportunity for all … and changing the world in the process.”
Backmatter includes further details about McBride’s life and career, tips on “How to Be a Trans Ally as a Cis Person,” a glossary of terms related to politics and government, and a Selected Bibliography. There’s also a note from McBride herself, who reminds readers both trans and not that “your story matters…. You matter.”
An Author’s Note by Meeg Pincus explains that although she is a cis woman, she was inspired by McBride’s article in their shared alumni magazine to read more trans people’s stories. Then “a dear loved one” came out to her as trans, and she’s had the honor of being part of their journey, “working with amazing doctors and activists” and becoming an advocate for trans lives.
This is a lovely and at times lyrical portrait of McBride. Illustrations by Meridth McKean Gimbel nicely complement the text, with sweet moments like an image of McBride surrounded by flowers as she celebrates coming out, or of children watching her election win and waving a Pride flag. The imagery of doors is a thread throughout, in both the words and illustrations, as they are closed from fear, opened for opportunity, and knocked on for votes. Whether young people will pick up on this and connect the imagery to the title is an open question—the phrase “door by door” is actually never used inside the book—but adult readers may wish to use this as a topic for discussion.
A solid addition to picture-book biographies of queer heroes and icons.
