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sessions. According to Rowena,
the therapist has strongly encouraged Germinato to be a better listener to young
people.
    Miss Aubin raises her hand. She still takes minutes at our meetings, but she has
also begun sharing some of her own ideas. “I thought I’d mention that Marie Gérin-Lajoie’s
birthday is coming up on October 19. I was thinking that perhaps the Student Life
Committee might want to mark the occasion.”
    “We could organize a party in her honor,” Vicky says.
    “I’d like to see a poster display explaining her role as an advocate for women’s
rights,” Miss Aubin says. “I could talk to one of the history teachers. It could
be a class project.”
    “We should do something with Marie Gérin-Lajoie’s portrait,” Sandy suggests. “Kids
walk by that painting without even looking at it. We need to find a way to make it
speak to students.”
    The word speak combined with my memory of the sign Miss Aubin made for the Leggings
Revolt gives me an idea. “What if we asked students to come up with dialogue balloons
with stuff Marie Gérin-Lajoie might say if she visited our school today?”
    Miss Aubin smiles as she includes my idea in the minutes. Then she looks up at me.
“I think I know what Marie Gérin-Lajoie would say. She’d say she was proud of each
and every one of you. And, Long live the Leggings Revolt! ”

Acknowledgments
    Every book has a story behind it. In winter 2015, I was doing writing workshops
with students at St. Thomas High School in Pointe-Claire, Quebec. I happened to show
them my ideas notebook and read them my list of book ideas. They liked Leggings
Revolt best. Then something wonderful happened: they agreed to turn up during several
of their lunch hours to share their thoughts about dress codes and, later, to read
and critique this story. Many thanks to St. Thomas librarian Carolyn Pye for inviting
me to her library and to Quebec’s Ministère de l’Éducation du Loisir et du Sport’s
Culture in the Schools Program, which makes visits like these possible. Thanks to
the following St. Thomas students for your enthusiasm and inspiration: Jeff Chan,
Fatma Elgeneidy, Samuel Helguero, Giordano Imola, Matthew Kasovan, Eric Kopersiewich,
Kiara Lancing, Magalie Langlois, Maude Larrondeau-Soule, Brianna Losinger-Ross, Madison
Moore, William Pugsley, Cynthia Sauvageau, Katharine Scarlat, Owen Stafford, Emma
Starr, Lindsay Thomas, Averie Tucker, Marisa Vertolli and Samantha Vissani. And,
as always, thanks to the terrific team at Orca, especially my smart and sensitive
editor, Melanie Jeffs.

Monique Polak has been known to don leggings. Monique has written numerous books
for young people, including five other Orca Currents. Her last Currents novel, Hate
Mail , won the Quebec Writers’ Federation Prize for Children’s and Young Adult Literature.
Monique lives in Montreal, Quebec. For more information, visit www.moniquepolak.com .