A sweet story of a child coming out as transgender and transitioning with the support of a neighbor and the acceptance of parents. The protagonist lives in a quiet house with mom and dad, but enjoys visiting new babysitter Chloe across the street, where music plays, a friendly dog barks, and Chloe makes costumes for actors. The child loves playing dress-up there, and is particularly taken with “the Dazzling Dress,” a dress that’s “so loud, I can almost hear it sing, shout, even laugh!”
When the child asks her parents if it’s possible to have one of Chloe’s dog’s upcoming puppies, however, the parents say no, because dogs take work and they’re too busy. The dog has her puppies, “one girl and three boys,” and the child helps Chloe name them, but then wonders if they gave the puppies the right names. She explains, “When I was born, the baby fairy whispered my name to my parents. They thought she said Samuel, but she really said Simone.” Chloe says, “I see,” and asks if the child’s parents know. “Not yet,” Simone replies.
Simone continues in vain to ask her parents about having a puppy.
The next time Chloe sees Simone, she uses Simone’s chosen name, then gives her a sized-down version of the Dazzling Dress. She then tells her that she’s made a deal with her parents, and one of the puppies can live with Simone on the weekends, but come back to Chloe’s house during the week.
All resolves happily, and we see Simone not only lovingly caring for the noisy puppy, but doing so while wearing her dress. Her parents now use the name “Simone” for her, and even though things aren’t as quiet around their house anymore, it seems more full of joy. Simone is expressing her true self, and her happiness brightens everyone around her.
This is a lovely, gentle story with lyrical prose and understated inclusion of Simone’s coming out and transitioning. There’s no questioning, disbelief, or bias—and while those things are unfortunately too frequent in real life, they don’t need to be the part of every story about a transgender person. Sometimes it’s good to have models of pure acceptance.
Simone’s mother is White and her father darker skinned with long hair; he reads as possibly Indigenous or Latino. Simone’s skin is just a shade lighter. Chloe is darker skinned as well. Earlier in the book, both the parents and Chloe use the name she’d been given at birth, but switch effortlessly to using her chosen name once they know it.
Also available in French.
