Odd Bird Out

Robert comes from a family of ravens; their beaks are big and bulky, their eyes are beady and small, and their clothing is a collection of conservative blacks and grays. Robert, on the other hand, favors tulle, brilliant yellow, and inappropriate dancing partners (a beaver in spotted shorts): “Didn’t he know that he was out of tune... that his jokes were juvenile... that the appropriate, the prescribed, the only possible clothing for a raven, was black?” Bansch’s (I Want a Dog!) illustrations have an undeniable gender-bending element—Robert is in dresses and heels much of the time—but the text doesn’t take this up specifically, and readers are free to draw their own conclusions. Faced with mockery for his antics and attire, Robert leaves town to seek his fortune, and some time later a fabulous entertainer named Bobby Raver appears to great popular acclaim—but he never reveals his identity. It’s an unexpected way to argue for accepting people as they are, but Bobby’s decision is his own, and Bansch’s sympathies are clear. Ages 4–up. (Oct.)