When Aidan Became a Brother

by Kyle Lukoff and Kaylani Juanita

Following the news that he’s going to become a big brother, Aidan helps his... read more

Following the news that he’s going to become a big brother, Aidan helps his parents choose baby clothing, paint the nursery, and consider names. Aidan doesn’t like when people ask if his mom is having a boy or a girl because when Aidan was born, everyone thought he was a girl. As Aidan got bigger, he knew he wasn’t. “It was hard to tell his parents … but it was harder not to.” When he’s worried about being a good big brother, his mom reminds him that they didn’t know everything when Aidan was born, but he helped them learn. “You taught us how important it is to love someone for exactly who they are.” Aidan is mixed race (his mom looks Black, his dad Asian) in art full of playfulness (the clothing patterns!) and abundant warmth. Buoyant illustrations show Aidan’s clothing choices range from dinosaur t-shirts to bowties, baseball hat to head wrap, shorts to frilly pinafore, in a story beautifully affirming gender identity as a matter of internal understanding and self-knowledge rather than an assignment based on physical appearance, and gender expression as open and expansive rather than culturally proscribed. (Ages 4–8)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2020

show less

24 Total Resources 9 Awards View Text Complexity Discover Like Books