The Prince and the Dressmaker - Banned Books - 2023-2024 Common Read - Research Guides at Johnson County Community College

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Themes

The Prince and the Dressmaker explores issues of identity, acceptance, and inclusion--in particular, the titular Prince's secret identity as Lady Crystallia explores the relationship between fashion, identity, and gender expression. Use the resources on this page to better understand the themes of the graphic novel and conduct research for your class assignments.

Interview with Jen Wang (Priya Sridhar, BookRiot, 02/06/2018)

Interview with Jen Wang (Lauren Orsini, Forbes, 02/12/2018)

Using Graphic Novels in Education: The Prince and the Dressmaker (Karen Evans, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, 06/18/2020) This guide to teaching the graphic novel includes many useful links and resources.

TED Talk: How Fashion Helps Us Express Who We Are

In a TED talk about the power of what we wear, Kaustav Dey examines how fashion gives us a nonverbal language of dissent and encourages us to embrace our authentic selves. Additional TED talks on the subject of fashion can be found here.

Recommended Library Databases

Bloomsbury Fashion Central This link opens in a new window
Bloomsbury Fashion Central provides more than 13,000 color images, over 100 academic eBooks, an invaluable museum directory, a unique exhibition archive, business cases from across the fashion world, reference works, and teaching resources to enrich and enliven studies across many disciplines.
GenderWatch This link opens in a new window
This is a database of unique and diverse publications that focus on how gender impacts a broad spectrum of subject areas. With its archival material, dating back to 1970 in some cases, GenderWatch is a repository of important historical perspectives on the evolution of the women's movement, men's studies, the transgender community and the changes in gender roles over the years. Publications include scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, newsletters, regional publications, books and NGO, government and special reports.

Related Library Books

Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam
Call Number: HQ77.9 .H49 2022b
ISBN: 9781541603080
A global history of gender nonconformity. Today's narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories.
Gender: Your Guide by Lee Airton
Call Number: HQ1075 .A3577 2018
ISBN: 9781507209004
From the differences among gender identity, gender expression, and sex, to the use of gender-neutral pronouns like singular they/them, to thinking about your own participation in gender, Gender: Your Guide serves as a complete primer to all things gender. Guided by professor and gender diversity advocate Lee Airton, PhD, you will learn how gender works in everyday life, how to use accurate terminology to refer to transgender, non-binary, and/or gender non-conforming individuals, and how to ask when you aren't sure what to do or say.
Gender Identity by Cynthia L. Winfield
Call Number: RC883 .W56 2019
ISBN: 9781442278363
In this book, Winfield addresses: -Differences between biological sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression -Legal protections for those outside the narrowly defined gender norms -Public debate and shifting views about gender identity -Ways readers can make society more cognizant and inclusive of gender-variant individuals.

Find the Book

Billington Library 2nd Floor PZ7.7.W366 Pr 2018, Young Adult Book Collection
Course Reserve Copy Available
Check availability for either the circulating or reserve copies in the library catalog

About the Author

Jen Wang is the award-winning NYT Bestselling author and illustrator of several graphic novels for young readers including Stargazing, The Prince and The Dressmaker, In Real Life (co-written with Cory Doctorow), and Koko Be Good.

Jen's honors include two Eisner Awards, the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association Children's Literature Award, and the Fauve d’Angoulême Youth Award. She is based in Los Angeles and is a co-founder and organizer for Comic Arts LA.