YA Book Review : PROUD ANTHOLOGY

Hi Everyone,

PROUD compiled by Juno Dawson is a huge ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I LOVED IT, after seeing the cover release at YALC 2018 i was so hyped for this book as i love Juno Dawson and many of the collaborators. The short stories , poems and artwork are amazing, emotional and funny.

The one one i was most looking forward to before release was PENGUINS by Simon James Green with  artwork by Alice Oseman as they’re two of my favourite authors. They both lived up to my expectations. Penguins was a great story about two penguins that fall in love at the local zoo who are both male. Cam’s feelings towards the penguins and how he uses them to depict what he wants in life is written beautifully. The ending is the perfect romantic climax to a wonderful story.

My favourite unexpected story was a close call between ON THE RUN by Kay staples which is about a boy called Nicholas coming to understand if he wants to change gender , and The other team by Michael lee Richardson about a football team thats not very good but all the players are part of the LGBTQ+ community and how they all stand up for each other when it comes to playing against a rude team.

My unexpected favourite artwork was by Frank Duffy to accompany the story called ALMOST CERTAIN by Tanya Byrne. This story and artwork features a lesbian relationship that develops after a tragic death. The reason i love this artwork so much is its simplistic and shows the darkness they are feeling as well as the hope thats about to start.

I would definitely recommend anyone to read this beautiful anthology even if you’re just a friendly ally as it says in the book. 

I hope you enjoyed my review, please share what parts were you’re favourite, hope to see some of you reading my future posts as it really means a lot. Thank You!