Pride Puppy! (2021)

Story: Robin Stevenson -- Art: Julie McLaughlin Canadian

Fave Five: Books About Pride

‘Twas the Night Before Pride by Joanna McLintick (text) and Juana Medina (illustration) Small Town Pride by Phil Stamper (MG) You Know Me Well by Nina LaCour and David Levithan (YA) When You Get the Chance by Tom Ryan and Robin Stevenson (YA) DC Pride by by Devin Grayson, Ivan Cohen, Tini Howard, Greg Lockard, Alyssa Wong, Stephanie Phillips, Danny Lore, Stephanie Williams, Jadzia Axelrod, Dani…

My home internet died again shortly after my last post about getting it back again, so if my activity on here has seemed spotty, that’s why. But I’m with a new service provider and pretty confident it’s not going to die on me again! So:

What have you all been reading? What have I missed? Do you have any fall or Halloween plans? A spooky TBR? Tell me everything!

Personally, right now I’m reading Yume by Sifton Tracey Anipare which I picked up because of how my store’s book buyer pitched it. She was almost completely wrong about what it is, but it’s still pretty great, and it’s going to be  near the top of my October wrap-up if it’s not the very highest. Basically, it blends the story of a Black Canadian woman teaching English in Japan and struggling with xenophobia and culture clashes, and the story of power struggles within the world of the yokai (which gives me major Ghibli vibes). I can’t say how they connect because that’ll spoil things.

Quick Review: When You Get the Chance by Tom Ryan & Robin Stevenson Rating: 3/5

Cover Art | When You Get the Chance by Tom Ryan & Robin Stevenson

Follow cousins on a road trip to Pride as they dive into family secrets and friendships in this contemporary YA novel — perfect for fans of David Levithan and Becky Albertalli. As kids, Mark and his cousin Talia spent many happy summers together at the family cottage in Ontario, but a fight between their parents put an end to the annual event. Living on opposite coasts — Mark in Halifax and Talia in Victoria — they haven’t seen each other in years. When their grandfather dies unexpectedly, Mark and Talia find themselves reunited at the cottage once again, cleaning it out while the family decides what to do with it. Mark and Talia are both queer, but they soon realize that’s about all they have in common, other than the fact that they’d both prefer to be in Toronto. Talia is desperate to see her high school sweetheart Erin, who’s barely been in touch since leaving to spend the summer working at a coffee shop in the Gay Village. Mark, on the other hand, is just looking for some fun, and Toronto Pride seems like the perfect place to find it. When a series of complications throws everything up in the air, Mark and Talia — with Mark’s little sister Paige in tow — decide to hit the road for Toronto. With a bit of luck, and some help from a series of unexpected new friends, they might just make it to the big city and find what they’re looking for. That is, if they can figure out how to start seeing things through each other’s eyes.

Artwork by Chris King

We began talking about what the letters L, G, B, T and Q stand for. The kids were relaxed, chatty, and engaged. One said that G meant gay, and another added that L stood for lesbian, which is “when women like other women.” But when we got to T, a teacher—an older man at the back of the room—held up his hand, palm out, traffic cop style.

“I’m going to stop you right there,” he said. And in front of the kids, who were seated in rows on the floor between us, he insisted that I stop talking about this subject. He said it wasn’t appropriate for the students to be hearing about it.

Sure do! Here are a few Canadian YA novels that AFAIK have only been published in Canada, which you can find here: https://lgbtqreads.com/young-adult/oz-and-uk-ya/

Way to Go by Tom Ryan

Past Tense by Star Spider

Under Threat by Robin Stevenson

And here you can find a very in-progress post of Canadian titles broken down by province: https://lgbtqreads.com/representation/can-uk-and-aus-fiction-by-province-county-state/

December 2021 Deal Announcements

Adult Fiction Brianna Labuskes‘s THE LIBRARIAN OF BURNED BOOKS, pitched for fans of Kate Quinn and Julia Kelly, about three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war, based on the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime, the World War II organization founded by booksellers, publishers, librarians, and authors to use books as “weapons in the war…