Bill's New Frock

This book tells the tale of the one school day in which Bill Simpson is treated like a girl. It's a shock to him just how differently he is treated because he is considered female. Yet half of the book is entirely normal to anyone who has passed through primary school in the last 30 years. The glory of this book is that it shows both sides - how people seen as boys are treated, and how people seen as girls are treated.

Rather than just being a dry list of incidences, there is a lot of humour in this book. Bill hunts for pockets in his dress. Bill takes on the quest for the Wumpy Choo. An art lesson with only pink paint. Anne Fine balances the important lessons in the book with humour that will appeal to the target audience and nearly show more everyone else.

How people today can claim we treat all our children the same, regardless of gender, while this book is on our shelves and in our memories, I can't imagine. If you're trans and a person doesn't understand why they can't gender you as they did, give them this book. show less

Hilarious. Read this to the kids in one sitting. Interesting things to say about how we treat boys and girls, especially at school.