Be Amazing by Desmond Is Amazing (Book Review)


Title: Be Amazing
By: Desmond Is Amazing & Pictures by: Dylan Glynn
Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
Publication Date: July 21, 2020
ISBN: 9780374312589
Pages: 40


In Be Amazing , drag kid Desmond is Amazing walks you through the history of the LGBTQ community, all while encouraging you to embrace your own uniqueness and ignore the haters.

Desmond is amazing - and you are, too.

Throughout history, courageous people like Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and RuPaul have paved the way for a safer, more inclusive society for LGBTQ individuals, and it's thanks to them that people just like Desmond can be free to be who they really are.


MY REVIEW
Hi friends! It's been a while since our last post. With the pandemic of Covid-19 and with what's been happening since the murder of George Floyd, we decided to take a few weeks off and to not post while also educating ourselves about systemic racism. During our time off, we did receive a package from our wonderful friends over at Raincoast Books and in that package was a beautifully written and illustrated book called Be Amazing by Desmond is Amazing in honor of celebrating Pride this month of June.

As a parent with a child in the LGBTQ+ community,  I'm always looking for new books that can not only help educate myself, but also have these books in our home library so that my kids and other family and friends can come and read books about LGBTQ+ whenever they want. 

Be Amazing is a wonderful book written by twelve year old drag kid, Desmond is Amazing and is beautifully illustrated by Dylan Glynn. In the story we are introduced to Desmond and are told his story of being his drag persona, Desmond Is Amazing. Not only does he share with us about his experiences, but he also goes through the history of the LGBTQ+ community, including The Stonewall Riots back in June 28, 1969. 

Along with sharing about the LGBTQ+ history, Desmond also shares stories of some of the heroes in the LGBTQ+ community that includes, Marsha P. Johnson, an African American drag artist, model and LGBTQ+ activist, Sylvia Rivera, a Latin American transgender activist and RuPaul, a drag artist, actor, singer, model and host of the popular show, RuPaul's Drag Race. 

This book is filled with lots of information about the history, heroes and activist in the LGBTQ+ community and about being true to yourself and "Pay the haters no mind, they'll never be as fierce as you and I." 

I encourage you all to pre-order this book and I hope one day I can see this in school libraries, I know how much this put a smile on my face and how much myself and kids learned from it, I can just imagine what it can do for a young kid who is feeling alone or out of place or for kids who just want to learn a bit about LGBTQ+ history. 

Be Amazing will be availabe for purchase July 21, 2020. For more information about Be Amazing, be sure to head over to Raincoast Books. Happy Pride Month! 

Disclosure: All opinions are my own. I received Be Amazing at no cost for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received. 

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