Hello Readers,
Thank you, NetGalley and Stripes Publishing for the
chance to read this ebook for free in exchange for an honest review.
Proud is an anthology of stories and poetry by top LGBT+
YA authors, new authors and illustrators, giving their views on the many
different ways to feel proud of who they are, covering a wide range of
experiences. This book was composed by Juno Dawson with the following
contributors: Steve Antony, Dean Atta, Kate Alizadeh, Fox Benwell, Alex Bertie,
Caroline Bird, Fatti Burke, Tanya Byrne, Moïra Fowley-Doyle, Frank Duffy, Simon
James Green, Leo Greenfield, Saffa Khan, Karen Lawler, David Levithan, Priyanka
Meenakshi, Alice Oseman, Michael Lee Richardson, David Roberts, Cynthia So, Kay
Staples, Jessica Vallance, Kristen Van Dam and Kameron White.
I was at YALC last year when Juno and the Stripes team
unveiled Proud and I was beyond excited (Also totally Fangirled at Juno
#Noshame). So, when it came available to request on NetGalley I could hit the
request button any quicker.
Juno delivers a wonderful foreword and introduction, that
is a stark reminder of how far things have come in 30 years. The introduction also gives us as the read a
reminder of the challenges still faced including the fact that some LGBT+
authors and stories have their books banned. This anthology contains twelve
short stories and each of this story has an illustration created especially for
it. This collection is heart-warming, engaging, powerful and personal, and
explore parts of the LGBT+ community. The hard work put into this book is
clear and everyone has done a brilliant job.
The stories span different genres from humorous tales of
gay penguins to fantasy stories of phoenixes who dare to be different. Each
story focuses on different characters of different orientations, as they figure
out what it means to be a queer teen in today's society. There are gay, bi,
lesbian, trans, queer, and questioning characters, and it was so easy to relate
and invest in every single one of them.
We have characters from all kinds of backgrounds and interests from
people living in council blocks to D&D nerds living out magical fantasies at
school. Some stories are about coming out, some are about finding acceptance,
and some are about finding friendship and romance. There are jocks, nerds,
people of colour, lottery winners, people who get wrapped up in peacock
wrangling and shock horror queer people are people and can be anything. The
whole collection is so uplifting and important.
If you get a chance to read a copy of this beautiful
anthology please do. The introduction felt like a call to action, to encourage
and support all of the wonderful LGBT+ authors and writers. I can't put into
words how empowering this book is. I
came across writers that I have previously read and came across some brand-new
authors and I now have more books added to the mountain of a TBR list. This
collection is wonderful and I loved it so much.
L x
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