O.K. Is Gay

Olivio Kipling—O.K. for short—wants to tell everyone that he and George, first seen beneath a rainbow-colored umbrella, belong together. But each time the child tries to share his news, others abruptly cut him off with their own knowledge about him. When he begins, “I am gay...,” O.K.’s told that he’s great at drawing dragons, that he never forgets binoculars at the ballet, or that he collects dinosaur bones. “People know a lot about him,” gentle text reads, “But no one knows the best part.” Kirsch brings reiterative plotting to this social story, in which simple dialogue and textural watercolor art amount to a pile of information about O.K.—and eventually build to a sweet understanding of why everyone knows so much about him. The protagonists have pale skin; other characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (May)