By Lesléa Newman
A little boy loves sparkly, shimmery things, and his big sister slowly learns to stand up for his right to enjoy them.
Casey loves his blocks and his dump truck, and he also loves anything that sparkles and shimmers and glitters. When his big sister Jessie gets a shimmery skirt, Casey wants one too. When she comes home with glittery nails, he wants those too. And when Abuelita visits with an armful of sparkly bracelets, Casey gets one to wear. The grown-ups in his life think that's just fine. Jessie isn't so sure, until some older boys at the library tease Casey, and she finds herself stepping in to defend her little brother's right to be exactly who he is.
The real story here isn't Casey, who's happy as he is from the first page. It's Jessie, the big sister who has to work out how she feels, and lands in the right place when it counts. That makes it easy for a child to see themselves not in the one being teased but in the one deciding whether to speak up. It's warm, plainly told, and grounded in an everyday Latino family, with Abuelita and her bracelets right in the middle of it.