Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow

Wow! This was a brilliant read. I don't read Middle-Grade novels. I always thought they are supposed to silly because hey it's for kids. But oh my good lord! This book shattered all those prejudices I had.Archie a 12-year-old is trying to understand what went wrong between his parents and why they have started to hate each other. He also suspects that they are keeping a secret, and he wants to know what it is. One day, when he does in fact gets to know what it is, his world sort of turns upside down and yet remains the same. His attempts to help his parents go in vain until one day he comes across a poster of an event that's happening in London and he thinks that this is where he will get all the answers to the questions he's been having.Me, My Dad and The End of The Rainbow is a beautiful story about a family and how the child tries to put together what his family was after knowing something that has changed the dynamics of his previously known family completely.I laughed, I giggled. I also felt the rage and the helplessness. I even cried both happy and sad tears. And that's to say - I ENJOYED THIS BOOK A LOT.I don't want to give you spoilers because this book is otherwise super simple and straightforward. And it's best experienced getting to pick it up without knowing a lot of details.If you enjoyed TJ Klune's The House in The Cerulean Sea then chances are, you might enjoy this too!

This is the exact kind of book I had wanted when I was a kid. A book full of so much inclusion, with so much heartwarming pure love. So fulfilling!Never late than never. Thanks Benjamin Dean for giving this book to us. Thanks for crafting the lovable protagonist of your book, the sweet Archie. Lots of love Archie. When you grow up, the world will be much more colorful and represented than what it is today.This book has a heart that beats with feelings so fundamental that it's hard to skid over. They want you to ponder over them. Difficult, forbidden topics--mostly hushed in front of children--- represented here with such ease. That too through an adventure. If you read this book my friends, you'll know what I am talking about. The author has made conversations surrounding the LGBTQ community so lovably accessible. There's no going back now. We are all reaching towards an educated new generation, so much more compassionate and with arms wide open.The book follows Archie as he suddenly confronts a truth, his dad coming out as gay. Confusion strikes. More broken conversations. More viscosity in the family's comfort and the way they drift apart. Archie is lost and dazed, he calls this to be a 'Awkward Olympics' and he seeks refuge. With colours drawn from the sky, the rainbow gives him hope. Makes him see that his Dad is still his dad. His family is just the same in the meter that measures love and warmth. The Rainbow-- The London Pride festival opens up doors for him. Along with his best friends Seb and Bel...he now knows what changed within his father and that it doesn't have to awkward at all. This is a happy demonstration of kindness and empathy. It's one step closer to form a new definition of how families can be, how close knit and how open. This is the epitome of how parental relationships can be, where there are no barriers, just love and care.Queer representation has to come up in children's literature and everywhere. Why settle for less colours, when we can upturn the palette of the Rainbow? Why settle for compromise, when we can unfurl fully

Archie Maverick Albright, the 12-year-old narrator of the book Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow by Benjamin Dean (Simon & Schuster, 2021), has secrets to tell. But before that, he wants you to be ready for the gossip, his family secrets, to ‘double-check’ if anyone is behind you, and look over your shoulders, as he knows that people “are all very curious,” which is to say that they “don’t know how to mind their own business.”A sheer joyride, filled with exquisite artwork and illustrations by Sandhya Prabhat, Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow plays its part in filling a major gap in the publishing industry when it comes to queer literature: LGBT+ themed books for children.Archie is the only child of his parents, who, because of some visible differences, have separated. Though Archie has a sense of their off-tuned relationship, he doesn’t know anything beyond that.The parents’ quibble is part of a larger dissonance, which reaches its zenith at a parents-teachers’ meet, where they embarrass Archie in front of his teachers and friends. Disturbed and annoyed by this, Archie refuses to share the ride back home with any of his parents, but later, upon his return, he ends up hearing something he should not have.The way the adults handle this situation in this story is striking, reminding me of A Little Prince’s kind of commentary by teenagers—Archie and his friends—on adults: escapism that adults exercise toward things worth addressing, which Archie calls “conversational dance.”The secret reveal shakes up characters in this book for sure, as they would in any queer narrative, but not in an unruly, dramatic way. All credits go to the author’s craft, which is the key here that makes this story mature in its telling. Dean renders a distinct quirk and appeal to his teenaged characters, making this story a compelling read, and at the same time steers away from the histrionics—the shock and awe—that is often associated with coming out and queer stories.The book not only addresses deeply sensitive issues with care but also supplies them with humour. The best incidents occur on the day when the children decide to go to attend the London pride parade. Bell almost blurts out about their secret escape and Archie reveals the 2 locations for the pool party to his parents. Seb, who worries a lot and tends to go by the rulebook, was sure that they’ll get caught but goes with them anyway.If you’ve attended a pride parade, then I am sure that, given the ongoing pandemic, you are bound to experience nostalgia. The description is not only overwhelming but is full of queer innuendos and hilarious stuff that can only happen during a pride parade, or I would like to believe so. For example, when these teenagers meet a couple, one of the partners introduced himself as Penny to the children, to which his boyfriend responds: “MICHAEL! They are kids. How about you just give them your real name.” I could not control my laughter reading this.The crux of Archie’s story is “that Pride is all about family, both the ones you’re given and the ones you make,” which is why I believe that this book is sure to find and expand its family of readers.No good book, however, is beyond criticism and I have one for this title: the language, though used matter-of-factly, because it is from the children’s viewpoints, often slips into telling the story from a heteronormative gaze. Seb explaining everything the alphabetic soup is composed of to Archie irked me. Archie, upon the mention of ‘+’ in LGBT+ says: “We’re doing maths now?” Nonetheless, it is an engaging and compelling read. And though the story is based in the UK, the book need not be contextualised for the Indian readers, which is a huge +!

I really enjoyed this book. Archie, 12 years old, feels troubled. His Dad moved out a month ago and he keeps noticing his Mum pretending that she hasn't been crying. But luckily his two best friends Seb and Bell ground him and help him in anyway they can. However when they come back to Archie's house and overhear Archie's parents discussing something that brings his world crashing down. How does this secret affect Archie's and his parents relationship? What is Archie going to do about it?What an absolutely lovely book to read, with a great foundation of friendship and the love between a parent and child. This book had me laughing and reeling with emotion. What a cute and fun read!

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!

'Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow' drives a story about the modern family and finally acknowledges LGBT+ people, putting them at the forefront, rather than as just a later add-on.As a new author, debuting a book that focuses so much on identity and LGBT+ topics is daring and is one I can only commend Benjamin Dean for. Whilst LGBT+ characters are now a lot better represented in media, it is a rarity to see a book (and a children's book at that) that puts these characters in the spotlight in a positive way.Similar, in vein, to the styles of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, 'Me, My Dad...' is written in a first person perspective, often addressing the reader with humorous rules and nonsensical fixes to the scenarios the dynamic trio of Archie, Bell and Seb they find themselves stuck in.Throughout the book, Archie begins to see cracks within his relationships and life and ways in which he can approach to smoothing over these. With such a topic, it is a wonder that the author has managed to make this book so accessible and well converged to its target audience, to developing their understanding of people's just genuine existence and some of the struggles they may go through. It does not divulge into too much detail of these struggles, thus not impairing the book's tone but rather encourages the main character to seek solutions and celebrating the identity of themselves and others.Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow is a book that genuinely had me laugh out loud a few times. It is a book I wish I was able to read when I was younger, so that I could also feel I could understand myself a bit better, in particular, a conversation with Archie and Viv that really hit home.There are a few aspects within the book that did made me think about the genuineness of an almost teenager never having used the train, some small nit-picky plot parts which I feel could've been fleshed out more, and whether the main character would benefit to being slightly younger, but as an overall product, it fills a gap and tells a story that was once hidden in the shadows and is bright, bold and beautiful.Me, My Dad and the End of the Rainbow is a joyous read. Whilst it may not allow you to escape to fictitious worlds with swords and battles, the road is a sweet and stable one which never feels overindulged.

This was cute and I liked it. Its not a new fave, but its sweet, and I enjoyed the message.I enjoyed the scenes at Pride best, I especially liked the found family of the community who literally took in the kids.My issue is that this book is nearly 400 pages, and the Pride scenes- the good bit- happens in the last 100 or so pages. I found the first part of the book a bit slow for my tastes.

This was such a sweet, hilarious and heartfelt read with a wonderful cast of characters that I absolutely adored. I basically just had a huge smile on my face, the entire time I was reading this book, it was such a delight! I loved Archie so much, he was such a sweetheart. He and his friends were such a chaotic trio and I adored them. The depiction of pride in this book was also just so warm and full of joy and I loved every moment of it.