A well-intentioned guide for teens that lacks actionable targeted advice.
This streamlined guide offers gentle encouragement to teenagers.
The opening chapter acts as a helpful introduction and reassures readers that they are whole, unique, and worthy. Teens are encouraged to embrace labels that feel right but to disregard those that feel “unfair or painful.” Staying in the present moment and cultivating awareness are recurring themes. Emotions are compared to weather—ever-changing and unpredictable—and teens are advised to talk about or write down their feelings. A four-step process suggests naming emotions, feeling them in the body, noticing how they shift, and doing something kind for yourself. Self-care suggestions include hydration, movement, rest, and nourishing food. A chapter on screens describes them as a tool and offers the reminder: “Beyond the screen, life is quieter.” When something goes wrong, the book advises acknowledging that things are hard and then asking for help. Readers are prompted to define their values and to consult both head and heart in decision-making. The book’s scope then extends care to the wider world in actions like reducing food waste or planting flowers and concludes with a key reminder: “You get to choose, again and again, what matters to you and what to leave behind.” Rainbow Kids compassionately offers support to adolescents in this companion book, which normalizes the emotional roller coaster of adolescence in lines like “Some days you feel light and full of energy. Other days, even small things can weigh you down. That is okay. Feelings simply are.” The book offers sage, easy-to-grasp advice on navigating digital and interior landscapes as well: “Being online connects you to others and shows you their world. Being offline gives you space to notice your own.” The book’s varied format, from self-talk scripts to a self-care checklist, allows readers a number of accessible ways to interact with its ideas. However, while the book provides a high-level overview of well-being strategies, it neglects to address certain specific challenges modern adolescents face.
A well-intentioned guide for teens that lacks actionable targeted advice.Pub Date: April 1, 2026
ISBN: 9783907899205
Page Count: 80
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Small but mighty necessary reading.
A miniature manifesto for radical queer acceptance that weaves together the personal and political.
Eli, a cis gay white Jewish man, uses his own identities and experiences to frame and acknowledge his perspective. In the prologue, Eli compares the global Jewish community to the global queer community, noting, “We don’t always get it right, but the importance of showing up for other Jews has been carved into the DNA of what it means to be Jewish. It is my dream that queer people develop the same ideology—what I like to call a Global Queer Conscience.” He details his own isolating experiences as a queer adolescent in an Orthodox Jewish community and reflects on how he and so many others would have benefitted from a robust and supportive queer community. The rest of the book outlines 10 principles based on the belief that an expectation of mutual care and concern across various other dimensions of identity can be integrated into queer community values. Eli’s prose is clear, straightforward, and powerful. While he makes some choices that may be divisive—for example, using the initialism LGBTQIAA+ which includes “ally”—he always makes clear those are his personal choices and that the language is ever evolving.
Small but mighty necessary reading. (resources) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09368-9
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2020
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future.
An adaptation for teens of the adult title A Queer History of the United States (2011).
Divided into thematic sections, the text filters LGBTQIA+ history through key figures in each era from the 1500s to the present. Alongside watershed moments like the 1969 Stonewall uprising and the HIV/AIDS crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, the text brings to light less well-known people, places, and events: the 1625 free love colony of Merrymount, transgender Civil War hero Albert D.J. Cashier, and the 1951 founding of the Mattachine Society, to name a few. Throughout, the author and adapter take care to use accurate pronouns and avoid imposing contemporary terminology onto historical figures. In some cases, they quote primary sources to speculate about same-sex relationships while also reminding readers of past cultural differences in expressing strong affection between friends. Black-and-white illustrations or photos augment each chapter. Though it lacks the teen appeal and personable, conversational style of Sarah Prager’s Queer, There, and Everywhere (2017), this textbook-level survey contains a surprising amount of depth. However, the mention of transgender movements and activism—in particular, contemporary issues—runs on the slim side. Whereas chapters are devoted to over 30 ethnically diverse gay, lesbian, bisexual, or queer figures, some trans pioneers such as Christine Jorgensen and Holly Woodlawn are reduced to short sidebars.
Though not the most balanced, an enlightening look back for the queer future. (glossary, photo credits, bibliography, index) (Nonfiction. 14-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8070-5612-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: March 12, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2019
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