Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

4/5⭐ to Margie Kelly Breaks the Dress Code by Bridget Farr. This is a fantastic middle grade read with an important message that I hope young readers will take to their friends, family, and classrooms. I also thing what is fantastic about this book is how relatable it will be, too! I think you figure out quite quickly as a girl in school how tricky and sexist school dress codes can be, and even more so when you have the enforcement of those dress codes. Not only did this author integrate this narrative in a wonderful story, but I think it gives students who want to make a difference in their school a framework for doing so. Finally, what I especially liked about the book and why I think it is so important is that it addresses intersectionality in terms of privilege and marginalization. Margie learns that although the dress code is unfair for all girls, her BIPOC classmates (including her good friend) have the dress code enforced more harshly than Margie and the other white girls. Definitely an awesome read!!

Unfortunately, many readers will relate to Margie's experience with the dress code! It's a good story about a young activist.

I was given a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Margie Kelly gets dresscoded on the first day of middle school and is forced to change out of her cute dress into old gym shorts and a baggy tshirt. She realizes that girls are being dress coded far more than boys and that dark skinned girls are dress coded more than light skinned girls. She coordinates a protest to force change. #netgalley #MargieKellyBreakstheDressCode #equity

Dress codes are an easy way to introduce the idea of unequally enforced rules to kids. Young readers can understand the shame and discomfort of a character like Margie. They can also easily grasp the unfairness of kids receiving different punishments for the same violation. That's an important point that this book makes. Not only does the school enforce dress code only for girls, race plays a role in the punishments handed out. Margie must come to understand not only that, but also the risks involved for each kid who takes part in her protest. Farr invites the reader to consider all of the consequences of unfair rules and to question why administrations are so focused on what clothes kids wear in the first place. A solid introduction to ideas that play a stronger role in teen fiction.

I would probably subtitle this 'a middle grade reader's introduction to intersectionality' and with that as a subtitle, it's really good! I enjoyed the characters and I thought the author did an excellent job of creating an actual story where it could have simply been a moral packaged like one of those old Stories from Grandma's Attic tales.