A standalone companion book to author/illustrator Scott Stuart’s My Shadow Is Pink, which was about a gender creative boy, this rhyming tale stars a child whose shadow isn’t blue like dad’s or pink like mom’s, but rather purple—an obvious analogy to being nonbinary. The child’s shadow likes to play with “Things loved by girls and things loved by boys.” The child dances with girls and plays soccer with boys, and delights in not having to choose, although some friends think they are “confused.”
The child busts other gender stereotypes, too. Some think they must be blue because only blue can be strong—“but my mom’s is strong, too”; similarly, some think they must be pink because they are caring, “but my dad’s always crying and loving and sharing.”
When it comes time for the school dance, they wear [like Billy Porter] a black outfit with a skirt and suit top, with mom sewing the skirt and dad the suit. Yet when they show up at the event, the children with pink shadows are on one side of the room and those with blue shadows on the other. Where does this child belong? Each side encourages them to join, and the teacher insists they must choose.
The child starts to cry and turns to head home. Just then, another child approaches and reveals the news that their (the new child’s) shadow is yellow. The first child is surprised, unaware that this was a possibility. The second child calls out for others to join them. More children reveal their shadows are brown, red, silver, and many other colors, as well as blue, pink, and purple.
Everyone is happy and unashamed, the original child observes, and notes, “No color’s stronger and no color’s weak.” The teacher sees the children all “joined as one” and encourages them to dance.
I like that this story doesn’t just bust blue/pink stereotypes like some books do, but stresses that there are many ways one can express oneself away from this binary—and that there are even choices away from the perfectly centered purple. We don’t know if all of the children whose shadows aren’t pink or blue identify as nonbinary or simply as people who have freed themselves from some of the stereotypes of what girls and boys should do and be—but either way, it’s all good.
Children may need a little adult guidance to think about what it could mean that someone’s shadow is green or orange, but if this little book can spark such conversations, then it will have done its work.
The main protagonist and their family have medium brown skin and brown hair; the one with the yellow shadow is Black. Other children are a variety of skin tones.
