Jacob's New Dress by Sarah HoffmanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jacob’s New Dress
By Sarah and Ian Hoffman
Published: Albert Whitman & Company
Year: 2014
Ages: 4-8
Pages: 31
Words
Jacob’s new dress is a story about a little boy who wants to wear a dress to school. It’s a good source for studying how character driven stories naturally create tension even in a picture book for young children.
Let’s delve into this story and study how authors Sarah and Ian Hoffman created tension without violence, harsh language, or life threatening circumstances.
P1: Title Page
P2: Copyright
P3: Jacob ran to join Emily in the dress-up corner.
P4: Emily slid into a shiny yellow dress while Jacob wiggled into a sparkly pink dress. They both reached for the crown, but Jacob got there first.
“I’ll be the princess,” he said.
First step in developing a sense of tension is creating the character. These few sentences introduce Jacob as
1. A person, who looks like a boy and likes to wear dresses.
2. A person who isn’t afraid to wear dresses in public. And
3. A person who is proud enough to declare himself the princess. Not a princess. There are little girls who won’t fight for the right to be the princess. But Jacob knows what he, wants. And he is stubborn enough to declare it that he is the princess.
Disclaimer: I'm using the pronouns he/him because those are the pronouns used to describe Jacob in the book. My BFF growing up was Trans; I know that pronouns are a big deal. Much love to you all.
P5: Christopher frowned. “Jacob, why do you always wear the girl cloths?” Put on the knight armor. That’s what the boy wears!”
“Christopher, stop telling us what to do!” Said Emily PT
P6:
Ms. Wilson heard the hubbub. “What’ going on, kids?”
“Jacob is wearing girl cloths!” Complained Christopher.
P7
“The dress-up corner is where we come to use our imaginations,” Ms. Wilson said. “You can be a dinosaur, a princess, a farmer - anything! Christopher, what do you want to be?”
“A boy” Christopher scowled.
Ms. Wilson smiled. “Jacob, you try it! What new thing could you imagine being? A firefighter? A policeman?”
“Ms. Wilson,” Jacob said proudly, “I’m the princess.” PT
Tension is built when the antagonist and the protagonist have equal but opposing views and strengths.
Christopher is the closet thing this story will allow to a antagonist. His function is to up-hold the status quo. We now know the world we are in. We are not in some faerie tale world where Jacob will accepted automatically, nor are we in a place where boy presenting persons wear dresses and girl presenting persons do not. We are in our current reality where boy presenting persons are expected to be knights and fire fighters. Christopher feels that it is his job to enforce the status quo on Jacob.
Ms. Wilson works as the "peace keeper". She just wants every one to get along. She doesn’t want the kids to fight. She tries to cox Jacob back into the status quo to prevent the tension.
But Jacob’s character has been established. Jacob is stubborn. Jacob is The Princess.
ACT II
P8 - P9
“How was school today?” Mom asked studying Jacob’s face. “Fun?”
“Christopher says boys can’t wear dresses,” said Jacob. “Can they?”
“Of course they can.” Mom hugged Jacob.
“Why don’t you get the dress you wore on Halloween and play in that.” PT
P10
Jacob pulled on his witch’s dress and twirled. He loved the way the black lace swirled around him.
“I want to wear my dress to school!”
P11
Jacob’s mom frowned.
“I don’t think so,” she said. “That’s for dress-up at home. It would get dirty at school.”
“Then can I get a regular dress? A dress I can wear to school?” Mom was quiet. Let me think about that,” she said. PT
The tension here is for parents.
She just said that boys can wear dresses. She meant, boys
Sarah and Ian Hoffman
are capable of playing in dresses in the privacy of their own homes if they want to.
But that wasn’t the question Jacob asked. He wanted to know if boy are allowed to wear dresses publicly, and she just said “Yes.”
So the tension rises when Jacob asks for a real dress that he can wear to school. The tension comes from Mom’s character conflicting with Jacob’s newly acquired belief and this freshly budded sense of self.
She didn’t see this coming. She has no answer for it. Does she go back and correct herself? Does she crush his emerging sense of identity? Does she steer her child back into the status quo?
Her sense of her own character does not allow her to do any of those things. It’s clear she is trying to give her son space to be the best, most confident, version of himself. She doesn’t want to be the one to tell him he can’t do this. She doesn’t want to “be society”. She wants to be the good guy.
But she knows the dangers are great for anyone who steps out of cultural gender norms. Great moment of tension here.
P12 -P13
Jacob wondered what to play next. Pirate? Princess? Bird!
Heaping three towels onto the floor, Jacob made a nest. Then he wrapped another towel around himself for feathers. Snug and warm, he imagined what a school dress would look like.
The next morning, Jacob stood on the stairs wrapped in a giant bath towel.
“What are you wearing?” Asked Mom.
“It’s like a dress, but I can get it dirty,” Jacob said, pointing to the towel. “I made it!”
Dad frowned. “You can’t go to school like that.”
“Put on some shorts and a shirt under the dress-thing,” Mom said “And hurry-we’re late for school!” PT
I get the feeling that Dad was about to “be society”. But Mom jumped in to deflect the tension. Mom is a deflector and must find a way to defuse the tension. Sure Jacob will wear this “dress-thing” to school. He’ll get it “out of his system” and then maybe he will move on to something else.
She doesn’t want Dad to be “the bad guy either”. It’s possible they had a talk after this scene about how to handle the situation.
Deflectors don’t defuse the tension however, they only delay it.
P14 - P15
“What’s that?” demanded Christopher.
Jacob moved closer to his mom.
“Good morning, Christopher,” said Jacob’s mom. “Jacob’s wearing something new he invented. Isn’t it nice?”
Christopher didn’t answer.
“I want a dress like that!” Cried Emily.
“Where’d you get it?”
“It’s not a dress,” said Jacob, dancing up to his mom. “It’s a . . . A dress-thing.” Jacob saw Emily’s smile and grinned back. “I can make you one!” PT
Potential conflict is once again deflected by the presence of Mom. Christopher will not speak his mind to another adult, not yet.
So Jacob is free to introduce himself as himself to his best friend Emily.
As a former Emily, I appreciate her being present in this story. I’ve never seen such an understanding teacher though. Must be nice.
P16 - P17
The playground was full of laughter and running feet as the children played tag.
Christopher sneaked up, yanked off Jacob’s towel, and ran away whooping.
“Christopher is mean,” hissed Emily.
Jacob watched Christopher wave the towel like a captured flag and started to cry. PT
The status quo strikes. The conflict could only be deflected for so long before something had to happen. The tension built because we, the audience, know Mom won’t be there all day. We know that once she went home Jacob was still there, wrapped in a towel with Christopher watching him. It was only a matter of time before that towel got snatched.
But the story isn’t over yet. The stakes are about to be mounted as Jacob’s stubborn character decides on a new plan.
ACT II
P18 - P19
“How was school today?” Mom asked.
“Christopher stole my dress-thing,” said Jacob. The tears flooded back.
Mom hugged Jacob. “I’m sorry. Christopher’s not always a good friend.”
“Mom?” Whispered Jacob. “Can you help me make a real dress?”
Mom didn’t answer. The longer she didn’t answer the less Jacob could breathe.
Wow, what a way to show the tension between both characters. Mother’s silence, and Jacob’s breathlessness speaks volumes!
Mom is sorry for her son and the potential loss of her son. She knew something would happen at school, just as sure as we did. But she hoped it would burn this desire to wear a dress “out of his system” without her having to be the bad guy.
However, Jacob is stubborn and knows what he/she wants. Jacob is The Princess. Mom is now realizing that she must do or say something. This time deflection won’t work.
But Mom’s character also says that she must be the good guy. This means giving in and helping Jacob make his dress.
P20 - P21
“Let’s get the sewing machine,” she said finally. Jacob felt the air refill his body. He grinned. Mom smiled back. “Where are all sorts of ways to be a boy” she said “Right?”
P22-P23
Dad looked up from his book.
“Mom and I made a dress,” said Jacob quietly.
Dad studied the dress. Jacob started to get that can’t-breathe feeling again.
“I can see you worked hard on that dress,” said Dad.
“Are you sure you want to wear it to school?”
Jacob nodded.
Dad nodded back and smiled. “Well, it’s not what I would wear, but you look great.”
Mom definitely got to Dad. The answer sounds like something a therapist would coach him to say. Or perhaps Dad is a therapist.
This story is probably well researched in order to coach parents who may be experiencing this situation for themselves on how to speak to their children.
But what does it do for the tension in the story? It deflects it again. When Jacob approaches his father while wearing a dress he’s hoping to honestly here what the man in his life thinks of this. The audience of adult readers must be holding their breaths. What does a father to say to his son wearing a dress!
But the father gives a patient, well rehearsed, response - something only a father who’s trying to be understanding would even consider. This shows love and fear all at once. Jacob will likely be accepted and loved by his parents no matter what. That’s good. We know his intention is to wear his new dress to school, in public, and in front of all the Christophers in the world. Some of us are hoping the father will stop this train before it goes too far. Some of us are happy with his answer. It's such a simple moment but it adds a lot of drama to the story.
I’m curious to learn how parents of a child who is presenting an alternative identity might react to this story. I’m also curious why the parents are not warning Jacob of the possible hostility he might face. It seems like they aren’t preparing him for possible danger. There must be away of doing so without traumatizing him, or hindering his freedom to express himself.
P24 - P25
Jacob skipped up the front walk to school. He found Emily inside and showed her his new dress. They found matching colors in their clothes and laughed: purple and white!
“Do you want to play dress up?” Asked Emily.
“No. Monkey bars!”
Together they ran out to the playground. PT
It is significant that Jacob is no longer playing dress up. Jacob is dressed comfortably and not playing a game. It’s also significant that Jacob has a friend who accepts this change and recognizes that he is not playing dress-up. Emily, at least, sees Jacob for who Jacob is. Kids are more flexible. They also make closer bonds with the gender they identify with.
P26
“My mom and I made this dress!” Jacob said proudly at circle time. “We used her sewing machine!”
“That’s wonderful!” Said Ms. Wilson. “Was the sewing machine hard to use?”
“Why does Jacob wear dresses?” Interrupted Christopher.
Ms. Wilson paused. “I think Jacob wears what he’s comfortable in. Just like you do. Not very long ago little girls couldn’t wear pants. Can you imagine that?”
P27
Christopher shook his head. “I asked my dad, and he says boys don’t wear dresses.” Jacob rubbing the hem of his dress, looked at the little stitches he’d sewn himself. He could hear Ms. Wilson and the other kids talking, but their words sounded far away. PT
The antagonist returns with back up from his own parent. He knows because, his father told him, that boys don’t wear dresses. But Jacob has backup from his mother and father in the tangible form of the dress that Mother helped him create, and Father complimented. Jacob wears the new dress as armor from the status quo as if to say “I’m capable of wearing the dress. I present as I wish to be seen. I can be whatever I want to be. I’m The Princess.”
P28 - P 29
On the playground, Christopher yelled,
“Let’s play tag! Boys versus girls - Jacob, you’re on the girls team!”
A bunch of kids laughed.
Jacob felt his dress surrounding him.
Like armor.
Soft, cottony, magic armor.
P30
“Christopher, I made this dress, I’m proud of it, and I’m going to wear it! And you know what else?” Jacob tagged Christopher. “You’re it!”
P31
Jacob sprinted across the playground, his dress spreading out like wings.
I know from personal experience that in real life if Jacob had “tagged” Christopher like that at the end it would have resulted in a playground fight as Christopher would have to “defend his masculinity” - yes, even in elementary school. But I digress.
The final conflict here is age appropriate and has the protagonist standing up for himself with the warmth and support of his parents wrapping him in amor and spreading like wings to fly above the problem.
Without Ms. Wilson or Mom there as a shield or deflector Jacob finally speaks up for himself and tells Christopher exactly what he thinks and how he feels. This takes courage - courage he will need for the rest of his life.
END
It is obvious that the writers of this story did a lot of careful research into the creation of Jacob and the reactions of his parents. The language used in this is very careful, I would even say professional. The situation is pretty realistic in that it is something that is happening all over the country everyday. So the tension is something familiar to most parents reading the story. Young readers and their parents may have already experienced something like this.
This is a cute story for young butterflies discovering their wings. It shows a sweet wonderful understanding world of children’s literature where adults are willing to let a child explore his identity. Jacob only has to deal with bullying from other children who are raised different. How nice.
In my jaded adult experience tough I know, and Jacob’s parents know, that he’s in for a lifetime of hardship. The tension of the story is real. I do appreciate that the story didn’t shy away from the presence of cultural pressure the ways “ When Langston Dances” does. It bothers me that Jacob’s parents don’t warn him that the world is a dangerous place.
What would you say to a little boy who wants to wear a new dress to school?
What do you say to a little Christopher who’s been taught that the world is black and white by his father?
What do you say if the teacher sides openly with Christopher?
What do you say when your son comes home with his dress destroyed from the fight he got into with his former friend?
I don’t know. But it is something to think about.
Bedroom Breakdown.
Reading this story to my daughter as usual changed my perspective. I was hard on the story when I reading it with my adult brain. I know about the dangers of being born taboo. I have the experience of being the best friend of boy in transition and saw teachers, students, parents, and politicians all dismiss his existence as laughable at best, disposable at worst.
So I wanted a handbook on how I should deal with that.
Jacob’s New Dress is an introduction to the very conversation I want the parents to have with Jacob.
Q: How do you warn your sensitive little boy of the dangers of being different?
A: You read him books like this one. This book opens the very important conversation of what they may face out there. You protect him by preparing him.
Q: How do you raise an Emily - who is willing and able to let her friend be who he is?
A: You read her books like this one and others, and explain that the world is not black and white. People are a spectrum.
Q: How do you talk to a Christopher?
A: You read to him books like this one, and “When Langston Dances” and explain that everyone is different. Not all boys are the same, not all girls are the same. Other people being different doesn’t hurt who you are. Diversity is good and normal.
Excellent story.
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If you want to learn more about the authors of this book please click here for an interview with the couple about this book or here for their personal website where you can support the writers directly as well learn about their up coming projects.
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