Grandad's pride

Every summer at Grandad's seaside home, young Milly, portrayed with brown skin, goes adventuring. When Milly finds a Pride flag that's ideal for a pirate ship's sail, Grandad, who reads as white, tells them about Pride, and how he and late Gramps, shown with brown skin, used to travel around attending Pride events. Milly suggests going to Pride in Grandad's camper van, and when he says that his "partying days" are long gone and the city is too busy, works with him to assemble the first-ever village Pride locally. Bustling, bright-hued images with a rainbow motif show the intersectionally diverse community--portraying people of varying abilities, body types, gender expressions, and skin tones--preparing for the event, giving each page a celebratory vibe. In this gladly intergenerational view of Pride, Woodgate's sequel to Grandad's Camper offers a familial portrait that twines past and present. Ages 3--6. (Apr.)

The protagonists of Grandad's Camper (2021) return in this tale of love, identity, and community. On their last visit to their White Grandad, brown-skinned Milly convinced him to fix up his old van and take it to the beach. This time, Milly is joined by their parents--one White, the other brown-skinned. Milly learns about how Grandad and his late partner, Gramps (depicted as brown-skinned in flashbacks), would travel in their van to march and dance in Pride events around the country. Granddad is convinced he's too old to attend Pride now, but Milly rouses their family and their town to put on a local Pride celebration, with volunteers creating banners, making costumes, baking treats, and putting on a drag show. Readers familiar with Milly and Grandad will welcome this sophomore outing, and the book will be in especially heavy rotation in libraries during Pride Month. Woodgate's upbeat art brims with color and, aptly, rainbow motifs, depicting a supportive community diverse in race, ability, and self-expression. This is a quiet yet moving read with a powerful message: You don't need corporate sponsorship or larger-than-life events to celebrate Pride; all you need is love. (This book was reviewed digitally.) A winner from beginning to end--and affirmation that Pride belongs in every community. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.