The story of a child name Guthli, growing up in India, who has to convince her parents that she is a girl, not a boy as everyone believes.
Guthli loves to draw, climb trees, and ride her bike. For the festival of Diwali, everyone in her family is getting new clothes. Guthli doesn’t want the clothes she’s been given, though, but rather a “light, frilly frock” like her older sister. She tries it on. Her sister screams, her brother laughs, and her father looks at her “with angry eyes.” Her mother tries to be more gentle, telling Guthli, “Son, you are a boy. You should wear your own clothes, not your sister’s.”
Guthli replies that she wants to be a fairy, “And why do you keep saying I’m a boy when I’m a girl?”
“Boys are boys and girls are girls, Guthli,” her mother responds, insisting that Guthli change clothes.
Guthli is sad throughout Diwali, and soon withdraws into herself. One day, however, her mother surprises her with a beautiful new frock. “Wear it and be what you want,” she says. Guthli is delighted because she can now be who she is. Her new-found confidence makes her think that someday she could change the world.
The plot doesn’t stray far from other books about transgender girls and gender creative boys who want to wear dresses and face opposition from family or peers (10,000 Dresses, Jesse’s Dream Skirt, Sparkle Boy, Jacob’s New Dress, Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress, among others), but the book stands out for its warmth, setting, and focus on an Indian family, as well as author/illustrator Kanak Shashi’s bright, textured cutout illustrations. The family’s initial negative reaction to Guthli’s assertion of her gender might be troubling to some readers, though. A few words (tyre, frock) reflect the British English used in India, but should be easily understood by readers elsewhere.
Originally published in India in 2019. Released in the United States in 2021.
