A child expresses their nonbinary identity through their favorite doll, showing their family who they really are.
The book opens as Avi introduces readers to their doll, Skye, explaining that Skye “wasn’t made to be a boy or a girl.” Avi’s sister tries to prove that Skye is a girl, dressing the doll in tiaras and gowns; Avi dresses up, too, and joins them in doing what the sister says are “‘she’ things.” Conversely, Avi’s brother tries to prove Skye is a boy, dressing the doll as a pirate or in army camo; Avi joins them in doing “‘boy’ things.”
Avi’s own play with Skye crosses these boundaries. Avi dresses Skye in a gown and plays pirates, or dresses Skye in army camo to have tea, knowing that “‘he’ clothes” and “‘she’ clothes” don’t make Skye a boy or a girl. But even Avi’s dad says that “Skye has to be one or the other…. Everybody is.”
Avi is angry and sad after this. Their mother is somewhat more understanding, saying that Skye can be “he or she or even they,” but Avi doesn’t want to choose. Avi worries that their family won’t like Skye if they aren’t a boy or a girl—and more to the point, worries that the family won’t like Avi. Their siblings, however, start to express to Avi that they are okay with Avi wearing a combination of girl and boy things.
Avi’s dad then apologizes, telling Avi he’ll love them no matter what. We next see Avi and Skye dressed in a combination of clothing—boots and skirt; pirate eyepatch and tiara—“clothes that everyone can wear.” They “do all the things that everyone can do” and their family lets them both be “exactly who we are.” The final spread shows Avi’s sister in a pink dress and tiara, and their brother in camo pants and wielding a sword—but Avi’s mother is wearing a pirate eyepatch and their father is wearing a tiara. Avi’s t-shirt has a nonbinary flag on it.
There’s a clear pedagogical intent here, and it feels perhaps a little unrealistic that Avi is so aware that clothes don’t dictate Skye’s gender, given the binary-gendered familial messages they were initially receiving. I also wonder if readers will understand that not everyone who blurs the lines of gendered clothing and play is nonbinary. (Yes, the parents don gender-creative accessories in that last spread, which might address this point—but the accessories are associated with dress-up, not real life.) Nevertheless, this sympathetic story offers the positive role model of a nonbinary child with a firm belief in who they are, and a family that learns to support them.
Avi has dark brown hair and light tan skin. Their brother reads as Black and their sister and father as White; their mother has light brown skin and brown wavy hair, possibly Black or Latina.
