Margie Kelly Breaks the Dress Code

by Bridget Farr

Overview

“Margie Kelly Breaks the Dress Code is fiercely smart, funny, and feminist. This thoughtful novel should be handed to every middle schooler.” —Brandy Colbert, award-winning author of The Only Black Girls in Town

A timely and necessary novel about one girl's fight against gender inequality at her middle school and the lessons she learns along the way from rising author Bridget Farr—now in paperback!

Margie Kelly's perfect skirt was dress-coded on her very first day of middle school. Upset and embarrassed, Margie spends the whole day in oversized gym shorts, setting the tone for the whole day. Everything that could go wrong, certainly does!
 
But when Margie realizes that the dress code is only applied to the girls and not the boys, she gets mad. Really mad. The dress code is keeping girls from learning. The boys act like they rule the school. And the teachers turn a blind eye. Something has to change! And then Margie comes up with the best idea. She'll plan a school-wide protest.
 
As Margie moves forward with her plans, she comes to realize that her own privilege is part of the problem, and not everyone's voices are being heard. Will Margie make meaningful change for all students?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316461580
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	07/26/2022
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,106,109
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.60(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Bridget Farr is an author, actor, and educator. She's been an elementary and middle school teacher her entire career, most recently a vice principal at an urban public school. She has a masters from the University of Texas at Austin. Bridget is also an actor and producer and has starred in award-winning plays, produced a popular theater series, and written a short film. She is the author of Margie Kelly Breaks the Dress Code and Pavi Sharma's Guide to Going Home. Bridget lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, Shiva, and the neighborhood cat, Sherman.

Editorial Reviews

05/17/2021

A sixth grader’s battle for justice is the topic of this thought-provoking feminist novel featuring a determined heroine living in suburban Austin, Tex. Margie Kelly, assumed white, has a rough initiation to middle school—she gets dress coded first thing for wearing a skirt that’s slightly too short, then fares poorly at quiz bowl team tryouts, ending up as alternate while her best friend Daniela, who is Mexican American, lands a regular spot. Humiliated and angry, Margie becomes aware of how the school treats binary genders differently: the dress code applies only to girls, and only three girls make the quiz bowl team. Following the footsteps of her activist mother, who died before Margie was two, the girl organizes a protest march to change the dress code. She realizes too late that she isn’t taking everybody’s needs into consideration—particularly “the dress code challenges for girls of color or queer girls or nonbinary people.” Told in a sympathetic first-person voice and featuring an ethnically inclusive cast, Farr’s (Pavi Sharma’s Guide to Going Home) relatable story shows the pitfalls of failing to consider intersectional representation. Ages 8–12. Agent: Melissa Edwards, Stonesong. (July)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Margie Kelly Breaks the Dress Code:
"Margie is bright, earnest, and appealing, and the issues of dress codes and friendship conflicts will be relatable for many middle school readers. A thoughtful treatment of sexism and white privilege for tweens."—School Library Journal

Praise for Pavi Sharma's Guide to Going Home: "Debut author Bridget Farr keeps the story moving swiftly, skillfully weaving in moments of tension that allow her diverse cast of flawed yet sympathetic characters to shine."—Publishers Weekly

"Well imagined [and] undeniable appeal."—Booklist

"A fresh, feel-good story that will make readers cheer and appreciate the home and family they may take for granted."—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

05/01/2021

Gr 4–6—Margie Kelly found the perfect skirt to start sixth grade. She and her BFF, Daniela, plan to try out for the Quiz Bowl team because they are "Queens of Quiz." Unfortunately, per the school's dress code, Margie's skirt is an inch too short, and she's sent to the nurse's office to change her clothes. The mortification that began with her skirt being measured in front of her class continues in the nurse's office. With her dad out of town, there's no one to bring a change of clothes, so Margie is forced to wear baggy, oversize gym shorts all day; at tryouts, she and Daniela learn that the kids have nicknamed Margie "Dress Code." The next day, Margie notices that a boy in her class is wearing shorts that violate the dress code. She waits for her teacher to call him out, but that never happens. As days pass, Margie notes that boys never get dress-coded and they seem to rule the school (including Quiz Bowl). She decides to organize a protest but is dismayed to find that Daniela is not on board. Margie worries about their friendship; her eyes are opened to her own white privilege as Black and brown students in her school suffer disproportionate punishment. Margie is bright, earnest, and appealing, and the issues of dress codes and friendship conflicts will be relatable for many middle school readers. VERDICT While teachers in this book come off as stereotypically clueless, the book should have wide appeal as a thoughtful treatment of sexism and white privilege for tweens.—Brenda Kahn, Tenakill M.S., Closter, NJ

School Library Journal