A six-year-old girl named Rainbow and her friend Charlie love to dress up in the clothes from Charlie’s costume box and go on adventures. One day, Charlie, who uses male pronouns, dons a pink fairy dress, while Rainbow becomes a robot. Rainbow completely accepts that Charlie wants to dress up as a fairy princess. Charlie does question Rainbow’s choice of costume, since they’re supposed to be fairies, but she insists she can be a fairy robot, and he soon agrees.
Life is good in Fairyville until the evil dragon Dragulagoon (in reality, a lawn chair) “captures” Charlie. Rainbow tries her magic and her scariest costume to drive off the beast, but nothing seems to work until Charlie suggests they use their strength together to shove it away. It’s a nice to acknowledge the strength of both characters; donning a princess dress does not make Charlie weak, even if he needs some assistance to get out of his predicament.
Some of the vocabulary skews a little advanced for the target age range (“archeologist,” “chide,” “furrows,” “contemplates”), but a little adult assistance should help. This a rare story that simply normalizes gender creativity without centering the story on it, while also celebrating friendship and imaginative play.
Rainbow is Black; Charlie is White. Rainbow also appears in A Mother’s Day Surprise.
