Fourth-grader Riley is a kid who loves lots of things: their parents, cousins, friends, all kinds of animals, making cool stuff (as well as messes), and being nonbinary. In this seventh volume of the early chapter book series by Jay Albee (a pen name for Jen Breach and J. Anthony), Riley is at the shared birthday party of their friends Marco and Maddie, along with many other friends, and is particularly excited about the homemade ice cream that Marco’s moms are making. The ice cream takes a long time, but Riley and friends amuse themselves with freeze tag, an egg-and-spoon race and a three-legged race, and a bouncy house.
There’s little suspense or dramatic tension in this book, just cheerful, slice-of-life scenes, but Riley’s enthusiastic participation in the day’s events and thoughtful observations about their friends’ various personalities make them a kind and likeable protagonist. Unlike many queer characters in children’s fiction, too, they’re not a loner trying to make friends or break into a popular crowd—they’re in the center of the social action, a catalyst for helping others feel welcome and have fun. There’s enormous value in that and in seeing a nonbinary child unconditionally accepted by family and friends.
Backmatter and More
Although it is a chapter book, not a picture book, comic-style illustrations at the chapter ends reflect the action of the story. Riley is biracial, with a Mexican mom and a White dad. As with every book in the series, this one starts with two graphic-format pages titled “I’m Riley,” in which Riley introduces themself, and two pages in which “Mx. Aude Teaches Helpful Terms,” giving definitions related to gender and queer identities. The latter might have worked better as backmatter, rather than slowing down the story with a pedagogical interruption (especially for those who have read other volumes in the series, with identical information), but this is good information to have nonetheless. Other than on those pages, however, gender identity is never mentioned, and Riley’s nonbinary identity is completely incidental to the story.
Actual backmatter includes discussion questions and writing prompts.
