{"id":2237,"date":"2016-05-17T21:59:17","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T04:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/?p=2237"},"modified":"2016-05-17T22:01:34","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T05:01:34","slug":"book-review-annies-plaid-shirt-by-stacy-b-davids-illustrated-by-rachael-balsaitis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/book-review-annies-plaid-shirt-by-stacy-b-davids-illustrated-by-rachael-balsaitis\/","title":{"rendered":"Book review: Annie&#8217;s Plaid Shirt, by Stacy B. Davids, illustrated by Rachael Balsaitis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Davids-Annies-Plaid-Shirt-173x206.jpg\" alt=\"Davids Annies Plaid Shirt\" width=\"173\" height=\"206\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-2238\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Davids-Annies-Plaid-Shirt-173x206.jpg 173w, https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Davids-Annies-Plaid-Shirt-350x417.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Davids-Annies-Plaid-Shirt-176x210.jpg 176w, https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/Davids-Annies-Plaid-Shirt.jpg 353w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 173px) 100vw, 173px\" \/><strong>Davids, Stacy B. <em>Annie&#8217;s Plaid Shirt<\/em>. Illustrated by Rachael Balsaitis. Upswing Press, 2015. HC. 32p. $16.95. 978-0-692-51245-6.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Beginning with the cataloging and dedication pages where we see Annie getting her favorite shirt out of the laundry basket, she is never without it. She is an active school-aged child, fully confident in her ungirly self-expression. But then her mom succumbs to gender expectations when they are invited to Uncle Benny&#8217;s wedding. They go to the mall to get Annie&#8217;s brother Albert a new suit and Annie a dress. ?Annie felt weird in dresses. She was happiest when she wore her plaid shirt. Why couldn&#8217;t her mom see that?? The story ends happily as Annie comes up with an ingenious solution.  <\/p>\n<p>Visually, the pages are uncluttered with lots of white space and just enough text. The watercolor illustrations by Rachael Balsaltis have a manga flavor that perfectly captures Annie&#8217;s put-upon face. The pictures show that Annie is oblivious to her diverse classmates&#8217; gender conformity and disapproval. Her mom appears to be a single parent and perhaps multi-racial. On the final page, the photos show the author and the illustrator in their own favorite plaid shirts, and even the end papers are plaid. <\/p>\n<p>This picture book affirms Annie&#8217;s right to nonconformity in gender expression. It does not suggest that she is LGB or T. It will appeal to all children and serve as a discussion starter about problem solving, social expectations and individuality.  <\/p>\n<p>Book trailer:  https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sn1n84mz8XE<\/p>\n<p>Reviewed by: Carolyn Caywood,<br \/>\nretired from Virginia Beach Public Library<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Davids, Stacy B. Annie&#8217;s Plaid Shirt. Illustrated by Rachael Balsaitis. Upswing Press, 2015. HC. 32p. $16.95. 978-0-692-51245-6. Beginning with the cataloging and dedication pages where we see Annie getting her favorite shirt out of the laundry basket, she is never without it. She is an active school-aged child, fully confident in her ungirly self-expression. But [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1197,"featured_media":2238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[31,105,21],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.glbtrt.ala.org\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}