Dress Codes for Small Towns--"There is more than one way to add color to the world. More than one way to crown a queen"

Title: Dress Codes for Small Towns

Author:  Courtney Stevens


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): After Billie and her group of friends nearly burn down their church, Billie is determined to prove that she is not a bad girl and that her father deserves to remain the church's minister. At the same time, Big T, the town's sponsor of the annual Harvest festival, dies.  Billie and her friends work to rise above prejudice and work to save the festival, while exploring their own identities and love interests along the way.


What I think: Dress Codes was one of those books that I thought was going to be about something else entirely.  I thought the plot, even as I was reading, was going to go something like this:

1. Tomboy-ish girl (Billie, who might be gay) experiences prejudice from small town rednecks
2. Boy-who-wears-makeup (Davey, who might be gay) also experiences prejudice
3. They both tell off the hypocritical church people
4. Their friends and family members, who are "set in their small-town ways" reject them, and
5. They move away to a big city to live glamorous lives (also come out of their respective closets)

I've read this story before, I thought smugly.

However, just like with another book, I was letting my own experiences with small-town church youth groups influence my opinions.

Yes, Billie and Davey do not fit into the traditional white, small town America persona--yet they are very much a part of their small town.  They both love Otters Holt, flaws and all, and do not change themselves to please the town, even when faced with rumors and wild assumptions from the older "Otters Holtians."  The five teenagers in their group of friends (known as "the hexagon") work to save their towns' traditions.

Billie's minister father and artist mother are supportive of Billie, but not perfect: her dad worries about his job and is frustrated by Billie's nonconformity, but her parents did kick a bunch of snobby people out of the church when they made rude insinuations about Billie (nicknamed the "Spandex Junkwagon Moms," a name which cracks me up.  I know those moms!):

I decided that church members would never tell me what to do again. (Jesus could have his say--I was a person of faith; I just wasn't a person of legalistic bull****.)  Those women threw stones over a football and a girl who girled differently from them. That's the real problem--not people leaving the church, not Christians acting like Pharisees, not making up rules that don't exist (hardback edition, Stevens, pg. 155).

Also, I love how Billie and her friends are exploring their sexualities without overly, or quickly labeling anyone. The older people (Billie's dad, for example) really want labels. The teenagers are more interested in discovering their own identities than labeling each other.

I wish all small towns had people like these teenagers, and maybe most small towns do, but in my experiences, the ones who don't fit in are the ones to leave as soon as they are able. Otters Holt isn't that different--Billie notes about LGBTQ people:

Most people wait until college, and then move to bigger cities. The price of their sexual freedom is paid with a loss of home, and often a loss of community respect. . . .I'd like to think my generation is different. We'd give a Corn Dolly to a gay woman. We've all read enough, watched enough, YouTubed enough to understand that sexuality isn't black and white. What do we care who someone finds attractive or falls in love with? But that doesn't mean you don't need body armor if you want to walk the openly gay road in Otters Holt (pg. 115).

Is small town life for everyone?  No way; otherwise, those towns wouldn't be small anymore.  However, it was nice to read a book that includes the good parts of small towns and people working to change those bad parts, without changing the essence of the town itself.

Plus, upholding the small town festivals.  I have excellent memories of small-town Indiana festivals.  This does not mean I would like to live in small town Indiana again, however.

I liked the characters and how they grew and changed.  I felt they were very realistic--not overly dramatic, and no big scenes that could not happen.  Just a small-town with good and bad values and teenagers loving where they lived (and improving it the best they could).  A warm and fuzzy book.


This book is on the 2018 Rainbow Book List.


My final takeaway (in 75 words or fewer): If you, like me, find yourself becoming cynical of small towns and their people, and assuming the worst about small town churches and youth groups, you should read this story.  It will help you remember that people are not always ignorant, evil, and prejudiced even if they live (and love) rural America.


Memorable quotes/passages from the book:

• "People are the hard part of being human" (pg. 54).
• "'You've always known yourself really well. But someone's made you doubt that. I want my kid back. The one who set the church on fire.'
   . . . 'You yelled at me for that.'
   . . . 'It's a metaphor.'" (pg. 268).
• "There's more than one way to add color to the world. More than one way to crown a queen" (pg. 292).
• "This is why they love you, but what you just did--following your gut, your heart--when you know it's not popular, that's why I love you. Don't forget that. Even if I do" (pg. 328).

Other reviews:  Book Browse and Reading Lark


This book is available in the Greensboro Public Library.