Still My Tessa

Still My Tessa is an understated picture book that grapples with the relationship between two young siblings as one asserts their nonbinary gender identity. Evelyn, the younger sibling, notices how her older sibling, Tessa, is changing over the course of a summer, with Tessa declaring, “I’m not your sister anymore” and refusing to play with Evelyn the same way the siblings used to. Tessa shows signs of frustration when Evelyn forgets and uses she/her pronouns to identify Tessa as Tessa prefers they/them. Following these mistakes Evelyn quickly adapts to the change, learning her sibling’s preferred pronouns within one week. The siblings’ mother also initially forgets Tessa’s pronouns, unthinkingly calling, “Girls! Time to go!”, before correcting herself to “Kids! Time to go!”

On a family bike ride, Evelyn acts as an ally to her older sibling by correcting strangers on Tessa’s pronouns and gender identity throughout their ride and ice cream shop visit. When the siblings’ parents push back on Evelyn’s declarations, warning that it’s “confusing for people”, Evelyn dismisses them, saying that she easily managed to learn it in a week and doesn’t find it confusing at all. Tessa is clearly upset by the constant misgenderings from strangers as well as their parents’ avoidant attitude and is quiet for the remainder of the bike ride. However, when the family returns home and their new neighbours identify the siblings as “two girls”, their mother swiftly steps in and corrects the neighbour that Evelyn is a girl and Tessa is nonbinary. Tessa is quietly moved by the gesture and smiles for the first time in a long time. Following the story, two pages are dedicated to answering some basic questions about nonbinary identity, pronouns and allyship as well as some simple Do’s and Don’ts for acting as a “Pronoun Ally”.

Sylv Chiang handles Still My Tessa’s subject matter with subtle grace, the text never coming across as preachy or disingenuous, and gives the issue added emotional weight by rooting it in a specific family’s lives. Evelyn’s learning process provides an approachable model for what boils down to a simple issue of respecting those around us in small ways, with Chiang making the point that it is so simple a young child learned it in a week. Mathias Ball depicts Tessa’s muted emotions in contrast to their sister Evelyn’s more exaggerated ones, demonstrating subtly how a person’s light is dimmed when they don’t feel comfortable expressing their true self. Tessa’s smile at the end of the book then provides the perfect counterpoint, their smile projecting light around their head like a halo.