A Costume for Charly | Review

A Costume for Charly
written by C.K. Malone; illustrated by Alejandra Barajas
Beaming Books, $18.99
Ages 5-8

This charming picture book explores how the bigender Charly finds a Halloween costume that’s right for them and their identity.

The fully illustrated pages allow the reader to sink into Charly’s life and challenge. Charly wants a costume that shows “they were both a boy and a girl.” They try different options until they’re able to create one for themselves.

Writer Malone is a bigender educator and advocate, while illustrator Barajas does a terrific job with the various subtleties of the different costumes. Notes at the back explain what “bigender” means and gives some resource web links.

This is the kind of small lesson that’s worth reading. Many people won’t need to think about the gender aspects of Halloween costumes—although it’s become more obvious how gendered many outfits are, particularly as more adults want costumes for holiday parties. It’s a simple question that many kids can relate to and an educational moment that’s easy to understand and sympathize with.

Filed under: All Ages, Reviews