A fable about difference and the importance of role models.
Ricky is a white sheep living in a flock of identical white sheep. One day, a new sheep named Rainbow joins the flock—and Rainbow is colored like his name. The other sheep don’t like his difference and urge him to blend in.
Ricky is hesitant at first to be friends with Rainbow, but she sees the fun things Rainbow does, like chase butterflies. She’s always wanted to do such things, but was afraid to be the only one. Now that Rainbow is here, she’s not so afraid, and joins him in his activities.
The other sheep criticize her for “standing out too much,” but she’s no longer afraid. In fact, she decides to “show her true color” and one day appears in a red fleece. Rainbow tells her she’s brave. Several other sheep join them to play—and soon, the rest of the flock wants in on the fun as well. Some of them trade their white fleeces for ones in the other colors of the rainbow, or striped like the trans flag.
They no longer had to be the same, we read, but “could all be themselves. Unique. Special. Happy!”
This book is one of several (They’re So Flamboyant, The Rainbow Bee, A Peacock Among Pigeons, Linus) that uses an analogy of being colorful for being queer, contrasting it with the colorless tones of everyone else. As a simple analogy about difference, this may hold up well enough, although I wonder a little about the widespread usefulness of this as a specifically queer analogy, since not every queer person is colorful and flamboyant. The Rainbow Sheep does offer an original twist on this theme, though, by telling the story through the perspective of one of the originally plain characters rather than the colorful one, showing the importance of role models and friends.
I balked, however, at Rainbow telling Ricky that she’s “brave.” As I’ve heard from some LGBTQ people (and in a related way, from people with disabilities), they’re tired of being told they’re “brave” simply for existing. (See GLAAD’s “Tips for Allies of Transgender People“; “Don’t call trans people ‘brave’ – we’re just trying to live in a prejudiced society,” by Rebecca Kling; “Just Because I’m Transgender Doesn’t Mean I’m Brave,” by Bethany Grace Howe, “Why You Should Stop Calling Trans People Brave — And What to Say Instead,” by Evey Winters, and “Please Don’t Call Me Brave,” by Jessica Lifshitz, who is lesbian.) Not everyone may feel similarly, however; if the sentiment speaks to you, this story might as well.
