Rachel's Christmas Boat

by Sophie Labelle

When Lulu's Dad tells her that she's going to change her name to Rachel and be a lady now, Lulu has a major worry: what if Santa doesn't find out in time to fix all the tags on Rachel's Christmas presents? Lulu decides to take matters into her own hands and make sure that her Dad gets the lovely Christmas she deserves for being a most wonderful person.

Genres: Picture Books, Gender, LGBT, Christmas, Transgender

28 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

About the author

The unique transgender cartoonist, the author of Assigned Male. She is from Montreal, Quebec. She is active in the transgender rights movement and speaks on the subjects of trans history and transfeminism.

Reviews

[Juliette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Très mims !
J'avoue que même si je comprends le but de montrer des enfants capables de changer leurs habitudes et comprenant l'importance de la reconnaissance et de la joie des personnes trans, ça me chiffone un peu que la tâche de tout renommer soit présentée ici comme la responsabilité de la fille et non de l'autre maman. Dans le sens où je m'inquiète que cela fasse reposer la responsabilité du bien-être des parents sur les enfants uniquement. (Parce qu'on vit dans une société qui présente les choses sous cet aspect là constamment.)

[Danika at The Lesbrary · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Your dad looks really happy today!' noticed William. Lulu explained that Rachel had changed her name to one she likes betters, and was going to be called she and her now, and probably that was why she was so cheerful.

Lulu's dad just came out as trans, and now goes by Rachel. But Lulu painted her dad's old name on Rachel's Christmas gift! With her friend William's help, she helps make sure that this Christmas and the presents that come with it match Rachel's new name! This is a cute little story that treats Lulu's dad (she says that Lulu can still call her Dad) coming out very casually, and her family is just happy that she is happy. This is written and illustrated by Sophie Labelle, created of Assigned Male Comics!

[Elizabeth]

I was occasionally braced for someone to respond negatively to the news of Lulu's dad's transition, but it was nice to get to be in a story where that doesn't happen.

Edit 11/12/22: I first read this book when it came out about 5 years ago, and was pleased to find it still holds up. (My trans-femme partner recently changed her name, and I was thinking of gifting this book to my elder nibling for Christmas this year, so I read it to my partner today.)

(My partner also noted that the text never deadnames Lulu's dad. The name is clearly there -- you see it in the illustrations -- but the text/you never say it out loud.)