Neither

Written and Illustrated by Airlie Anderson

Little, Brown and Company, 2018

One upon a time, there were two kinds: this and that, these and those, one or the other.

All of the animals in this story are either yellow birds or blue bunnies. Then one day, an egg hatches and out pops a green animal with a beak, rabbit ears, a fuzzy tail and bird legs. When asked, he says he’s both, but the others say he is neither. The other animals won’t let him play with them, because he’s not close enough to either type to join them. They angrily send him away and he flies away from the land of yellow and blue and finds himself in a land of many colors. He meets an animal that is part cat and part butterfly, who tells him he will fit in here, in the Land of All. They invite him to play and he tells them he’s not the same color as them, but they like that about him. Suddenly, they are joined by a slightly different rabbit and bird from the land of This and That who are looking for a new home. They’re welcomed to the Land of All, where everyone fits in.

Author/illustrator Airlie Anderson gives us a simple story here, with a message that’s unassuming enough to be easily understood by the youngest of kids. There are several ways that the story can be interpreted, overlaying all the ways that humans can be different from each other. But to me, it reads as a lovely way to help readers understand gender identity, particularly those who identify as non-binary. My youngest is non-binary and is very much their own wonderful self. So to think of the world as a ‘land of all’ where they would be welcomed, appreciated and encouraged by everyone is a wonderful thought.

They clearly have some awesome board games there.

The gouache artwork uses color brilliantly to help bring home the book’s message. It starts out with just yellow and blue and then, in a wonderful double page spread, he flies over the landscape and we see him move away from the two colors to a lush world of many colors. The animals in this new world are all combinations of different creatures and multiple colors, but there’s very little green here so our main character brings in something they’re lacking. I love this, because it means they’d been waiting for someone just like him. In a world where everyone is welcome and everyone has the chance to bring their uniqueness to the table, it would make for the best and most interesting table.

And what did we learn?  What I take away from this book is that the best places to be are places that respect and encourage diversity.