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Harrison Dwight fights dragons but
not his feelings.
With unpoetic rhymes, a sledgehammer
of an already-overdone message, and cartoonish illustrations that mirror the
text rather than extending it, this text barely meets any standards of the
picture-book form. It’s easy to understand, at least; rhyming couplets (with
shaky scansion) use simple words, with concepts so excruciatingly spelled out
that readers won’t be left wondering what conclusions they’re supposed to draw.
At first the narrative focuses on Harrison Dwight, a boy with floppy hair who
is “a ballet dancer. I’m also a knight!” After this brief introduction, the
story tells readers what to do and how to feel: “Fighting is no way to solve
what’s gone wrong. / If we just talk it out, we can all get along,” and “Girls
and boys both sometimes feel sad. / It’s a brave thing to cry; don’t fear that
it’s bad.” Gender-nonconforming behavior in picture books is typically reduced
to depictions of cis boys engaging in typically feminine activities, and this
book breaks no ground in that regard, even with a few depictions of girls and
women watching football and discovering cold fusion. Harrison has beige skin
and brown hair; his blonde, white mom and light-brown–skinned, black-haired dad
suggest he may be biracial.
Gender stereotypes have been a
widely explored subject since William’s
Doll, if not before; readers are encouraged to seek out something,
anything, before this cack-handed attempt. (Picture
book. 3-6)
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