In this third book of a lively early chapter book series, gender creative Jordan is excited about his school’s upcoming race, the Massey Obstacle Olympics. He’s been running with his grandmother, whom he lives with, and looks forward to testing his skills in a competition. The course looks tough, and new kid Ivan, the fastest in gym class, is intimidating, but Jordan’s best friend Max is ready to coach Jordan to victory. A rainstorm on the day of the event—and Ivan’s grippy new cleats—cause Jordan to doubt himself, but he perseveres. I won’t spoil the ending, except to say that Jordan learns a few lessons about helpfulness, not making assumptions about others, and what it really means to be a winner.
Along the way, we learn that Jordan’s sneakers have hot pink laces and that he loves how long his hair is getting—so long that he has to tie it into a ponytail for the race. His gender creativity isn’t the point of the story, but is affirmed in several ways, such as when the book notes, “When he looked at himself in the mirror, he loved what he saw.” The book proves its value with that line alone.
Elsewhere, too, his grandmother (who has an enormous closet of clothes and costumes) offers the wise words, “Clothes can let you become someone else … But they can also help you to be more like yourself.”
I also appreciate, however, that although Jordan is gender creative and even tries on dresses in the previous volumes (which is great to see) we also see another part of him here: athletic and competitive—traits rarely seen in fictional depictions of gender creative boys. There’s no reason someone can’t be all of these things, so kudos to author Suzanne Sutherland for reminding us and giving young readers this representation.
As in the previous volumes, the lessons here are lightly handled but elevate the story over many other less substantial early chapter books.
Jordan and his grandmother are White; Max reads as a medium-skinned person of color.
