Jane Goodall speaks truth in her foreword, when she says you can't put this down and that it is read in one sitting!
"This was about justice, standing up for the voiceless, and helping people see that animals were more than food or entertainment. They had their own unique lives and deserved the same decency and respect that we all yearn for."
Give me animals, LGBTQ representation and mix in some fight for justice and that's ~90% of my personality and 100% of my social media timeline This book completely transported me to the author's life, growing up in the 90's, while starting and creating his path in the animal rights movement, while growing up, finding himself and his people. I really enjoyed the writing style, making it easy to read and appealing to an YA audience. Recommend for any animal lovers, social justice people and queer kids, for a bit of representation where being queer is an important facet of life presented alongside others. Also 90's teens might get a bit of nice nostalgia.
Thank you to NetGalley+publisher for providing me with an eARC
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Cute, wholesome graphic novel with a f/f main pairing Perfect for fans of Check Please, Heartstopper, Bloom but with a sapphic romance instead This book features the sunshine girl (a trans biracial MC) and the goth gf (fat lesbian MC) falling in love, with the background of their cheerleading team, as well as their families and school It talks a lot about acceptance of trans people, including when that is real or when it's performative/tokenism/fetishisation
This is a great resource to introduce children to discussions of gender identities, and will more likely than not, also introduce many older people to the concepts too It consists of the name of the identity with a small definition - i think this is good to spark discussion and introduce concepts to kids. at the end there is a small text to help parents/caretakers in navigating these discussions, which will also be very useful it is a very simple book, both in concept and illustrations, but taking into account the aim and target of it, i find it appropriate. i think a follow-up/sequel would be welcome
thank you to netgally and the publisher for an eARC
a bingeable new adult book, with queer women trying to find themselves and their place, and navigating life and new adulthood i thought it was going to be a low rating for the first half. however, i enjoyed the directions it took and the conversations it has at the end deeply resonated with me. I really enjoyed the cast of only queer women (with the exception of parents). The characters are not loveable and their relationships are unhealthy at first, but their arcs do get them there (at least for the main characters). The representation of disability and the discussions of monogamy/non-monogamy was well-done and felt refreshing to read a different type of love story. The story slowly delves into conversations on finding your path, both in life and love, and how that is different for different people or happens at different times, which i think will resonate with many people!
typical for an anthology: i really enjoyed some of the pieces, but others not so much. especially toward the later third of the book, i didn't enjoy many of those essays. I went into this book looking forward to read about the experiences of being queer and fat, falling somewhat into that category, and to gain insight into these experiences and if anything could resonate with me - both pertaining to weight and to sexuality and gender identity.
The authors have a very diverse range of experiences and lives, and while most pieces are memoir-like, some of them get fantastical. The essays that I enjoyed most were the non-fiction ones, particularly if that mused about fatness and queerness from a societal perspective. I also really enjoyed reading the essays from non-binary authors and what they had to say. eg. The Gender Nonconformity of my Fatness; A Fat Lot of Good that Did; Soft Butch. I didn't notice any particular sort of organization of the pieces, which my brain would've appreciated. The theme of the book is really important, and i recommend it as a way to learn from the perspectives of different people that fall under this umbrella.