Name: Small Town Pride
ISBN: 9780063118805

Phil Stamper

Small Town Pride has descriptive copy which is not yet available from the Publisher.

Small Town Pride

From acclaimed author Phil Stamper (The Gravity of Us and As Far as You'll Take Me) comes a poignant coming-of-age, contemporary middle grade debut novel about finding your place, using your voice, and the true meaning of pride. Perfect for fans of Rick by Alex Gino and The Best at It by Maulik Pancholy. Jake is just starting to enjoy life as his school's first openly gay kid. While his family and friends are accepting and supportive, the same can't be said about everyone in their small town of Barton Springs, Ohio. When Jake's dad hangs a comically large pride flag in their front yard in an overblown show of love, the mayor begins to receive complaints. A few people are even concerned the flag will lead to something truly outlandish: a pride parade. Except Jake doesn't think that's a ridiculous idea. Why can't they hold a pride festival in Barton Springs? The problem is, Jake knows he'll have to get approval from the town council, and the mayor won't be on his side. And as Jake and his friends try to find a way to bring Pride to Barton Springs, it seems suspicious that the mayor's son, Brett, suddenly wants to spend time with Jake. But someone that cute couldn't possibly be in league with his mayoral mother, could he?

kait

I wish a story like this would have been around for me in middle school. I live in Ohio and in a town very much like this one. I always wished I could run away to the bigger cities here, across the countries, or even across the globe. I have always felt like I belonged somewhere that wasn't in a small town that has shown no effort to accept people like me. Seeing this story and the growth felt very close to home, which I am grateful for. Very glad that other kids can find this book and feel like they belong. 

P.S. I love the connections to gaming! I need to log onto my SDV farm soon.

Latitude Tamarind

This is a really good middle-grade queer novel. The writing is accessible and doesn’t get in the way of telling the story. It doesn’t talk down to the reader, which is very important to middle-grade reads. I also loved the fake Stardew Valley game that Jake plays and references through the book, I love nods like that to real life games. I’d recommend this for any middle-grade library. Four and a half stars, rounded up for NetGalley/Goodreads.

ayah ♡

I really enjoyed this book! As someone who recently came out as bisexual, I understood both Jake and Brett’s fears of coming out, and the support that Jake received after he came out. I really loved how persistent Jake was in trying to get a pride festival to happen in his village, and I really enjoyed the happy ending to the book!