The story of two boys in love—whose love is recognized and accepted by their classmates—trying to express their feelings for each other. This could have been a sweet tale, but unfortunately, the images of Asian and disabled characters are racist and ableist, respectively, and depictions of women and Jews feel poorly thought out.
“’Archie loves Zack!’ ‘Zack loves Archie!’ Everyone said it was so,” begins the tale. Despite everyone’s knowing and accepting, however, neither Archie nor Zack feels like they can say this to each other. Their hesitancy is never explained, though it’s clear that it’s not because of bias, but simply the uncertainty of knowing whether one’s feelings are reciprocated. As the story unfolds, we see the two boys having adventures together as Archie pens note after note telling Zack that he loves him—but then feeling like “something’s missing” and hiding the note before giving it to him.
Three girls in their class find the notes, however, and, knowing who they’re for, give them to Zack as their school prepares for the holidays. It’s clear from the text and illustrations that this was done with good intentions and the girls are trying to help them express their feelings for each other. Nevertheless, on another level it’s intrusive and it’s outing Archie, so adults may want to discuss with children when this sort of sharing isn’t appropriate. Nevertheless, “Reading [the notes] made Zack very happy.”
Zack, in fact, has wanted to share a similar note with Archie for a long time. In the end, the boys express their feelings for each other and are shown smiling in the midst of their classmates at the holiday pageant.
Kirsch, who also illustrated the book, keeps the images bright and cheery, and gives the characters big, expressive faces. Archie is White; Zack is Black, and their classmates are a range of racial and ethnic identities. Kirsch could have done much better drawing the Asian characters’ eyes, however; they feel like an exaggerated stereotype, either open and slanted at 45 degrees, or squinting. This is not the type of “inclusive” imagery we should condone. Additionally, the character in a wheelchair is shown twice, but both times in group images at the edge of the page, which feels marginalizing. Not only that, but the presumably girl characters are always shown in dresses or skirts (except for one scene in which they are in a marching band), and the presumably boy characters are in pants. (Thanks to this Twitter thread for raising some of these issues, and also noting that the bindi on the girl of South Asian heritage is probably more akin to what a grown woman, not a girl, would wear.)
[Update, June 2021: It appears that a reprinting has changed the problematic eyes so that all of the characters have nearly identical round eyes. That only serves to erase the Asian characters and is not a solution.]
The holiday pageant includes Christmas, Hanukkah, and general winter themes. On a final spread, we see vignettes of Archie and Zack both carrying a Christmas tree and standing behind a menorah. Zack is holding a candle, as if to light the menorah, but the shamash (helper) candle that is actually used to do so remains in the menorah (and the rest of the menorah is full), another cultural error in the book. If Zack is Jewish, however, and not just helping Archie, this is a rare (if wrongly drawn) picture book representation of a Jew of color (here are some others), though it’s incidental to this tale.
There are some things to like about this book in that it gives us a positive story of two boys in love. Contrast Thomas Scotto’s Jerome By Heart
