Richie’s Picks: CALL ME GRAY
Richie Partington
Richie’s Picks: CALL ME GRAY by Andrew Larsen and Tallulah Fontaine, Kids Can Press, October 2025, 32p., ISBN: 978-1-5253-1135-2
“There will come a time when everybody who is lonely will be free to sing and dance and love!
There will come a time when every evil that we know will be an evil that we can rise above!
Who cares if hair is long or short or sprayed or partly grayed?
We know that hair ain't where it's at.
There will come a time when you won't even be ashamed if you are fat (Wah, wah, wah, wah!)”
– Frank Zappa, “Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance” (1968)
“Since 2022, anti-LGBTQ book bans have proliferated in schools and communities throughout the United States. Moms for Liberty (M4L), an anti-LGBTQ extremist group that bills itself as a so-called ‘parental rights’ organization, is a driving force behind this alarming trend targeting books about LGBTQ people, people of color, and race and racism.
GLAAD is tracking M4L’s anti-LGBTQ record and ties to national anti-LGBTQ groups. The group self-reports more than 130,000 members in county-specific chapters across 48 states.
In states like Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and California, local M4L chapters have campaigned to nix inclusive titles from public school curricula and libraries under the false pretense of ‘protecting’ children. Their tactics include infiltrating local school boards, which can implement library and curriculum policies, and ‘flooding’ district leaders with incessant requests to ban certain books.”
In CALL ME GRAY, a father and his prepubescent child are busy creating their annual makeshift backyard ice skating rink:
“‘Do you ever feel mixed up about who you are?’ I ask.
‘I feel mixed up about a lot of things,’ he says. ‘I think most people do.’
But did you always know who you wanted to be?’ I ask.
‘When I was your age, I wanted to be an astronaut,’ he says. ‘I still think about it sometimes.’
That’s not what I meant.
In the afternoon, we pack down the snow so it’s smooth as ice.
I try again,
‘Do you ever feel different than the way you look?’
‘I look older than I feel,’ says my dad. ‘Is that what you mean?’
‘Not really,’ I say. It’s hard to explain.’
‘Try,’ he says.
‘I look like a boy but sometimes I feel more like a girl.’
There. I said it.
Dad doesn’t say anything for what feels like a long time.
‘I didn’t know you felt that way,’ he says. He takes my hands in his. ‘I’m glad you told me.’
‘Me, too,’ I say.
We go inside to get warm.”
I steadfastly remain a believer in the notion that books can change lives and the world for the better.
“All you need is love.”
– Lennon/McCartney (1967)
CALL ME GRAY is a picture book that could brighten or even save a young life. Unfortunately, too many intolerant locales, where this book could be of great service, value, and importance, are the very places where it will be least likely to be purchased. Or, if purchased, it will inevitably face pressure for removal.
In the current atmosphere, there are too many places where kids cannot be themselves and, at the same time, feel normal and cared about. Places where young people, who could really use the support of this book and the sentiments contained therein, instead feel compelled to pretend to be who they’re not. Places where far too many young people are both subtly and bluntly taught and encouraged to avoid children and adults who are different, whether it be different colors, different sexual orientations, or different religions.
Accompanied by bold gouache illustrations, CALL ME GRAY is a beautiful picture book that I encourage you to purchase and share in order to help fight intolerance. Some kids will most assuredly enjoy a better life as a result of them and their peers being enlightened by CALL ME GRAY.
And blessed be those parents, like the dad here, who are truly accepting, loving, and supportive of their children or their neighbors’ children.
Richie Partington, MLIS
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