Reviews
I found this book on my Kindle when I needed a new Book to pick up between Xmas and New Year and so this one filled that gap and was an enjoyable book but just nothing to write home about.
Me, My Dad, and The End of the Rainbow explores the life of 12-year-old Archie Albright as he comes to terms with his father's recent coming out, and what that means for his family. It's a story of adventure, friendship, honesty, and tolerance and really made me smile. It’s a Charming short read.
Overall, I think that the father’s coming out story could have been explored further as it felt like this was the main element of the story, but it was just mentioned and then that was it, We hear more from Archie's mother and how she comes to terms with this news than we do from his father,
The latter half of the book, which focuses on the three preteen friends adventuring in London, seemed to detract from the message of the story. I appreciate that there was a focus of coming togetherness that can be found at Pride and within the queer community, and how people from all walks of life rally together when it's necessary, but I don't think that was hitting at what the story was about. This kind of felt like a book of two halves for me and what I was set up to believe would happen after the first half of the book felt very different to how it all came together.
I was incredibly excited to read this since I saw so many booktubers rave about it. But I was very disappointed. I am well aware that this book is not aimed at me but at middle grade readers. But what bothered me most is how young the characters are written, it simply feels like the author has no interactions with children. Archie is supposed to be 12 but his mannerisms and thoughts sound more like that of a 8-year old. Some other things that bothered me were: - the book is set in the past few years but the parents memories/photos speak more to them growing up in the 70s and 80s.... (view spoiler)[- they have phones....why do they have such issues finding each other (hide spoiler)]
Fourth book of the Whateverathon Prompt: read a book that is an author's debut There was a bit near the end of this that made me tear up. MY HEART. Cute, fun, warm-hearted story about a family adjusting to the father coming out as gay. This is a super-fast read with a narrator who draws you in from the very beginning. The illustrations are gorgeous too. I also LOVED the description of London Pride celebrations and there is such good representation of the different members of the queer community in here. Every school library should have a copy of this.
It was a wholesome story and a great audiobook. However, I was bored numerous times, so this isn't the story for me, I guess.
4.5 stars
This book is so cute and wholesome! The first half of the book was focused on Archie's family kind of falling apart after his parents separated, and how that affected Archie as well as his mom and dad. Then Archie learned that his dad was gay. The relationship between Archie and his dad floundered a bit at that point, nothing had really changed but things were just awkward between them. Which leads us on to the big adventure! I love the way Archie and his friends Bell and Seb decided to break a million rules and find a way to London Pride on their own. The entire planning process was pretty entertaining and seemed destined to fail. I didn't think they would make it there, but they sure did! After a big dose of drama where pretty much everything went wrong, this book actually had a very happy ending. The way loads of drag queens teamed up to help Archie during a disaster was absolutely wonderful and really showed the true spirit of pride. This story made me miss going to pride parades (thanks coronavirus) and I will be sure to read this book again to get me in the pride spirit whenever I can next attend a pride event! I would love to read a short story sequel that picks up where this book ends, I think that would be so much fun! Thanks to netgalley for the ARC!
One of my new favorites!! Recommend to everyone!! 🌈✨
