Harry Woodgate

he protagonists of Grandad’s Camper (2021) return in this tale of love, identity, and community.

On their last visit to their White Grandad, brown-skinned Milly convinced him to fix up his old van and take it to the beach. This time, Milly is joined by their parents—one White, the other brown-skinned. Milly learns about how Grandad and his late partner, Gramps (depicted as brown-skinned in flashbacks), would travel in their van to march and dance in Pride events around the country. show more Granddad is convinced he’s too old to attend Pride now, but Milly rouses their family and their town to put on a local Pride celebration, with volunteers creating banners, making costumes, baking treats, and putting on a drag show. Readers familiar with Milly and Grandad will welcome this sophomore outing, and the book will be in especially heavy rotation in libraries during Pride Month. Woodgate’s upbeat art brims with color and, aptly, rainbow motifs, depicting a supportive community diverse in race, ability, and self-expression. This is a quiet yet moving read with a powerful message: You don’t need corporate sponsorship or larger-than-life events to celebrate Pride; all you need is love. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A winner from beginning to end—and affirmation that Pride belongs in every community. (Picture book. 4-8)

-Kirkus Review show less

This road trip has been a lifetime in the making.

Readers are introduced to a young, brown-skinned, curly-haired protagonist on a visit to their White grandfather’s cottage. While there, the protagonist, who narrates, and their grandfather play the usual games and do the usual activities, but Grandad also tells stories about how he and Gramps, a man of color who is now deceased, met and fell in love while traveling in an old VW microbus. Inspired by these tales, the narrator encourages show more Grandad to fix up the van, and the two take it for a road trip to the beach. This is a quiet story that speaks volumes, and astute educators and storytellers will be able to use the book in both intimate storytimes and with larger groups. Caregivers, especially older ones, may see this book as an opportunity to talk about departed loved ones and introduce their happy memories to a younger generation—many a family will find themselves pulling out photo albums to relate their own origin stories. The artwork is enticing and rich, and readers will be happy to pore over the pages studying details like Grandad’s friendly dog and the textured backgrounds as they read and reread the story. This book deserves pride of place on any bookshelf, be it in a library, school, or home. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-19-inch double-page spreads viewed at actual size.)

As warm and friendly as a kind grandparent. (Picture book. 4-8)

-Kirkus Review show less

"I've spent all this time trying to get rid of you, when maybe we should have faced our fears together."

Timid by Harry Woodgate was a cute tale about a non-binary child named Timmy dealing with anxiety. They love performing but when it's time for the school play their fears take over. Timmy loves performing at home but the thought of a public audience brings out the inner voice called "Roar" that fills them with doubt.

I love how this book personifies what it feels like to have anxiety and show more how the inner voice of fear manifests. I loved Timmy's friendship with Nia. Nia's unconditional acceptance and support helped Timmy overcome their fears and perform. Nia was patient and provided different ways that Timmy could deal with their anxiety and her support ultimately made the difference. This is so important because many people do not understand anxiety and don't know how to help someone when they are experiencing anxiety episodes.

This book also models for children how to be a great friend and how to be proactive in a crisis. Timmy was very shy and Nia extending her friendship and trying to get to know Timmy really healed to put them at ease and be able to open up about their fears. I also appreciated how Timmy being non-binary wasn't the central focal point of the story and was just accepted as their identity.

I recommend this one for children who are extremely shy and dealing with feelings of fear and anxiety. It's also great for teaching about acceptance and friendship. Thanks to @hearourvoicestours for the opportunity to be on tour for this one.

#Timid #HarryWoodgate #books #bookstoread #bookstagram #tbr #reading #childrensbooks #libros #anxiety #mentalhealth #nonbinary #lgbtqia #bookrecommendations #igreads #picturebooks #HOV show less

In a Nutshell: A lovely story about a shy boy who is intimidated by their “lion” whenever they have to perform in front of others. Loved the intent, liked the content, adored the illustrations.

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Story Synopsis:

Little Timmy loves to perform. They spin around in their homemade costumes, singing at the top of their voice and becoming whoever they wish to be. The problem is that this performance is restricted to the confines of their room. Though they dream of

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performing on stage someday, they know the dream will never come true because of a giant hurdle: a lion. Whenever they try to do anything new, the lion pops out of nowhere and roars away their confidence. When the teacher announces the upcoming class play, Timmy is too dejected even to sign up. Their friend Nia decides to help them out.

The problem of shyness is a fairly common one, in adults as well as kids. In a world where we are forced to be outgoing and stage-confident, shy people have a tough time navigating the maze of unsureness and underconfidence to face the world from a dais. This is even tougher for children who are afraid to verbalise their anxiety. The story does a brilliant job of highlighting this difficult issue. It doesn’t stop only at depicting how the leonine roars affect Timmy’s confidence, but also incorporates a couple of simple techniques to overcome nervousness.

The metaphor of the lion to represent fear works quite well. Seeing the scary lion drive away Timmy’s little confidence is a great visual representation of how anxiety works in real life. I liked how the lion didn’t disappear at the end, but motivated Timmy from the audience. One doesn’t always get rid of fears, after all; one just learns to accept them and confront them. That said, the plot could have handled the ending better. Going from “we should face our fears together” to a confident stage performance was too big a jump. How exactly do you face fears together on the big day when your feet are shaky and your nerves are jittery? Perhaps an added paragraph or an afterword on this topic would have helped because Timmy’s transformation at the end is too instantaneous to be convincing.

I can’t skip mentioning Nia’s role in the story. Such a sweet little child! She knows what she wants, and despite her own shyness, she doesn’t hesitate to help out Timmy with their confidence. Of course, being a smart girl, she also gets assistance in return for her own costume. A perfect give-and-take friendship, this! I loved how both of them worked together on facing their fears and making their own costumes for the play.

You might have noticed my using the ‘they/them’ pronouns to refer to Timmy. Right on the first page where we meet Timmy, there’s a lovely photograph on the wall of their room, declaring, “Hello! My name is Timmy. My pronouns are: They/them.” My heart loves this decision. As far as I know, children’s books haven’t yet explored the concept of individualised pronouns, even though there have been picture books on gender identity awareness, same-sex relationships, and other such inclusive topics. In that sense, using they/them as dominant pronouns through the book is almost a revolutionary concept. But my head reminds me of the reason this hasn’t been done so far. At that young age (I guess Timmy is about 5-6? Their exact age isn’t specified), most children aren’t aware of pronouns other than the traditional set. They are still learning the nuances of language and ‘they’ is just a plural pronoun for them. So introducing the other ‘they’ to this young age *might* become confusing. I am not against the idea, but I feel it will better suit an older age group. I might be wrong, of course. This is still a developing topic, so perhaps educators might have a more expert opinion on this.

The story is written in simple prose. Each page has 1-3 small text blocks. Most of the words are easy to understand. The book is targeted at readers aged 4-8 years, but the younger set will need assistance reading this.

The illustrations are stunning! The cover art gives you a great visual clue of how mind-blowing the graphics inside the book are. Every page is a treat to the eyes. All the colours of the rainbow seem to be dancing across the vibrant illustrations. Can’t forget to point out the rainbow-coloured highlights on the lion’s mane!

All in all, I did enjoy this book, though I am not sure of a couple of its content inclusions and I wish the ending had been more detailed.

Recommended, yes. But take a call based on the above information. It’s a brave book, perhaps a little too brave.

3.75 stars.

My thanks to Hear Our Voices Book Tours and Little Bee Books for a complimentary copy of “Timid”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.

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