Robin Stevenson

The strength of this book is its central character Dylan, a 16 year old girl who is prickly and smart and has a lot on her mind. Born to her mother when she was only 16 herself, Dylan has never known her father, and believed that he had ignored her her whole life. When he shows up out of the blue to ask her to be a bone marrow donor for her 3 year old half-sister, Dylan is understandably ambivalent about finally meeting him. It turns out to be a complicated situation because of her mother's show more many secrets, and in the meantime Dylan is also wrestling with a new romance and changes with her best friend. Although this teen novel has many subplots going on simultaneously, it holds together well, and is thought-provoking at the same time that it entertains. The teen voice seems authentic and engaging. show less

Wow. So much better than I imagined. This is a celebratory book, a work of joy, and an offering of love. I didn't realize it was meant for children. It doesn't come across as a book directed towards kids - even though I did notice an unusual number of photos of children in the Pride movement - because it doesn't "talk" in a childish way as many other informative books for children do. It covers the history of Pride, the variety, the worldwide aspect, the triumphs and the ongoing resistance. show more I learned things! The only negative comment I can make is for the strong, unpleasant odor of the pages - is it the paper or the ink? - that set off my asthma.

On the last page is a list of other Orca Book Publishers' offerings and the covers look similar to the Pride cover - colorful and joyful - so I assume they are similar in feel and content. I plan to pick up one or two others and keep an eye on Orca. So far, I'm really impressed and I rarely take note of publishers!

Received my copy gratis from LibraryThing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review. show less

LGBTQIA + ABC + dog = fun!

This queer-centric alphabet book follows a young light-brown–skinned protagonist of ambiguous gender, their moms (an interracial couple), baby sibling, and rambunctious dog as they get ready to head off to a Pride parade. Disaster looms, however, when a tumble leads to a loose dog and a chase through the parade to reunite the four-legged member of the family with its bipedal owners. Each page introduces the next letter of the alphabet, advancing the story and show more along the way offering a plethora of vocabulary words (sometimes in print, sometimes in illustrations—a concluding search-and-find word list will send readers back through the book). While the story is sweet, the illustrations are the real stars of the show, depicting realistic characters and a crowd that is diverse in age, skin tone, racial presentation, size and shape, ability, and body modification. The cartoon illustrations are highly detailed, which may make the book challenging for large-group storytimes, but it will keep lap-readers invested as they pore over the characters, designs, and background actions. The only thing missing is a flag identification guide to help caregivers identify the variety of identities found and supported within the book. That quibble aside, the book is sheer delight and will be a welcome addition to shelves everywhere.

Highly—and proudly—recommended. (Picture book. 4-6)

-Kirkus Review show less

It has been a long time since I stopped to take stock of what Pride is and why it is important! Being a gay man, I can remember back to my first Gay pride and the impact it had on me. This was somewhere safe, this was my community! Here was a celebration of this part of me that I had been struggling with for so long.
Since then, year by year, pride has become more of a weekend where I have an excuse to party for three days straight. Sadly, I think more treat the celebration as Latter these show more days. It's become a weekend where we run around in underwear and call it awareness. Where we get trashed and call it visibility. It's lost much of its glory and this book was a beautiful reminder of what it was and still is for many queers.
This book was an amazing reminder to me to remember what Pride is about and how we got this far.
I especially loved the beginning of the book where Stevenson reviewed a brief history of how the Queer movement began. It's good to be reminded of our history and of the men and women who fought for the rights we have today!
I so, so wish this had been a larger more in depth book so that I could dig deeper into the idea of what Pride is and what it means to different members of our community. I was left wanting more!
The pictures and stories made it all that more visceral and exciting. It made me long for June when I can get out and celebrate Pride with my community, and maybe thanks to Stevenson, this year with a little more respect and honor for the reason we have Pride now! show less