Goodreads | Waterstones

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 he 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…

Thank you to Simon & Shuster and Waterstones for a copy of this book in exchange for honest review.

Happy book birthday to this beauty, which is released today!

I’ve been so excited to read this book after seeing the beautiful ARC copies going around. I was lucky enough to be part of a Zoom Q&A through work with the author, who spoke so beautifully about this book and made me so excited to read it. I picked it up almost immediately and couldn’t put it down, reading it in around 24 hours.

This book was so much fun and so beautiful. It is the epitome of a modern and diverse adventure story, and is centered around London Pride. It really transported me back to the magic of the only Pride event I have attended, which happened to be Dublin! I am so happy to be safe in the knowledge this will help so many young people learn about LGBTQIA+ relationships and diversity. Archie, the main character, is so charming and lovable, and the tone of this book draws you in immediately. I love how Archie spoke to the reader directly, it made me feel very involved in the story.

I love how Archie and his two best friends, Bell and Seb, are discovering the world of Pride, and I imagine it will teach so much to young readers who are also navigating this world for the first time. It has such a diverse cast of characters, as two of Archie’s older friends are gay, and they meet all kinds of beautiful people at Pride, including trans people, non-binary people and drag queens who help them along the way. The conversations the trio have with these people are so heart warming and accessible to the reader. Some of the other conversations that Archie has with those closer around him were also beautifully written and will stick in my head for a while to come.

This was my first middle grade book of the year, and I’m so glad it happened to be this one. Reading this gives me so much hope and excitement for the way literature is changing for children, and becoming so much more diverse. This was beautiful, emotional and full of love, and I couldn’t recommend it more.

★★★★
4 out of 5 stars

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

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