Ratings7
Average rating3.6
WINNER OF THE DIVERSE BOOK AWARDS 2022. A rainbow-filled, JOYOUS debut from a hugely exciting new talent. Perfect for 9+ readers and fans of Elle McNicoll, Lisa Thompson and Onjali Rauf's The Boy at the Back of the Class. My name’s Archie Albright, and I know two things for certain: 1. My mum and dad kind of hate each other, and they’re not doing a great job of pretending that they don’t anymore. 2. They’re both keeping a secret from me, but I can’t figure out what. Things aren't going great for Archie Albright. His dad's acting weird, his mum too, and all he wants is for everything to go back to normal, to three months before when his parents were happy and still lived together. When Archie sees a colourful, crumpled flyer fall out of Dad's pocket, he thinks he may have found the answer. Only problem? The answer might just lie at the end of the rainbow, an adventure away. Together with his best friends, Bell and Seb, Archie sets off on a heartwarming and unforgettable journey to try and fix his family, even if he has to break a few rules to do it... Praise for ME, MY DAD AND THE END OF THE RAINBOW: 'A life-affirming, must-read' – The Independent ‘One of the most joyful books you’ll read this year’ – The Bookseller 'The novel wears its heart on its sleeve, and it is a very big heart' – Financial Times ‘Joyful, funny and heartfelt’ – Katie Tsang, co-author of SAM WU IS NOT AFRAID and DRAGON MOUNTAIN 'This joyful book has such heart, expertly navigating serious subjects around family, gender, and sexuality. Celebratory and advocating kindness, I’d recommend this book to all middle-grade readers. A real tear-jerker!' – Steven Butler, author of THE NOTHING TO SEE HERE HOTEL ‘So adorable, funny, and heartwarming. I loved it!’ – Alice Oseman, author of the HEARTSTOPPER series 'A joyful and thoughtful celebration of family, identity and inclusivity' – Anna James, author of the PAGES & CO. series ‘A brilliant, smart book with a good heart. It’s like a warm hug and I can’t wait for the next one’ – Danny Wallace, author of HAMISH AND THE WORLDSTOPPERS and THE DAY THE SCREENS WENT BLANK ‘A powerful new voice in children's fiction’ – Aisha Bushby, author of A POCKETFUL OF STARS 'I will recommend this book to everyone for years and years to come' – Gavin Hetherington, BookTuber - How to Train Your Gavin
Reviews with the most likes.
3,5*
Sadly, I did not love this book like I thought I would.
What I wanted from this book was explaining and examining Pride and all that surrounds it from the perspective of a 12/13 year old boy whose father just came out as gay.
Instead I got a third of the book where the parents are fighting followed by two thirds of people getting lost and trying to find each other, which happens to be at Pride in London.
While there are definitely great moments relating to Pride and queerness (for example pointing out that it is a protest and using a Marsha P Johnson quote), it sadly fails to examine these further.
Who was Marsha P Johnson and why is her quote used? Why is Pride (still) a protest? Why do people become drag queens and what does it mean when people use they/them pronouns?
All of these things are touched on briefly but never actually talked about, which is such a shame when you have a book for younger audiences who probably do not (fully) understand these things.
The biggest miss for me was that there is almost no bonding between the main character and his father. The whole reason he goes to Pride is to find answers relating to his dad and the situation they are in. Some of these answers are found, but with people he meets on the way. The whole getting to London and trying to find each other after getting lost takes up almost half the book and then at the end Archie (mc) and his dad have a quick chat about how nothing had actually changed and then they hug. There is no talk about how the first Pride was for his father after finally having come out, nothing about how the family reacts or what it would be like if his dad got into a new relationship.
All in all, this is not a bad book. It has a very diverse cast of characters and is a great conversation starter for young audiences. It also has the great sense of adventure and humour that suits young readers, but it could have been so much more.
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