All the Colours of the Rainbow (Rae White, illus Sha’an d’Anthes, Lothian)

In All the Colours of the Rainbow, Jem sometimes wants to wear their yellow dress with blue sandals and sometimes blue jeans with orange sneakers. The story invites readers into Jem’s life, where their beautiful growing understanding about themselves and the world is contradicted by some adults but strongly affirmed by others. Through their discoveries and observations, Jem becomes an active participant in their journey of self-discovery and self-affirmation. Rae White’s poetic prose, as seen in their debut adult poetry collection, Milk Teeth, and Sha’an d’Anthes’s illustrations, which showcase her now-signature style more than in Zoom, capture the joy of these discoveries. For example, Jem notices that trees aren’t just green but can also turn brown in autumn, and the sky can be more than blue as it changes to hues of pink and purple. The illustrations are rich, colourful and cute, featuring trees, creatures and personal belongings as friendly companions, along with smiling rainbows and smudged paint palettes. One particularly touching image shows a teacher kneeling to listen to Jem at their eye level. This bright picture book also serves an important purpose: encouraging adults to listen and understand while giving gender-diverse children the confidence to express themselves. It is especially suited to children aged five and up, when gender binaries at school (uniforms, class divisions, etc.) often become more pronounced.

Books+Publishing reviewer: Angela Meyer is an author and lecturer in writing and publishing at RMIT. She is a former publisher and bookseller. Books+Publishing is Australia’s number-one source of pre-publication book reviews.

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