A welcoming and inclusive celebration of love.
Married YouTube stars share their love story as well as those of other interabled couples—people whose relationships involve “one or both partners living with a disability.”
Shane Burcaw, who has spinal muscular atrophy and is a wheelchair user, and Hannah Burcaw, who is nondisabled, are on a mission to illuminate less-represented romantic partnerships. They spoke with nearly two dozen couples, whose identities include diversity in sexuality, race, and gender identity, sharing their stories in their own words through Q&As or in third-person retold narratives. Interspersed segments cover events in Shane and Hannah’s relationship—their early courtship milestones, travel misadventures, and IVF experiences. The importance of communication and shared passions is a theme throughout, as the interviewees recount their stories with candor and a lack of cliche. The couples span a range of ages; some have been married for decades while others are in their 20s. The accounts emphasize the ordinary humanity and deep humor and affection of their relationships. The Burcaws, who present white, largely write for an audience that’s already familiar with aspects of disability activism, but they do include plenty of information to support readers who are just becoming familiar with anti-ableism. The frank focus on rarely discussed topics, such as “the assumption that physical caregiving must detract from (or altogether prohibit) an enjoyable sex life,” is valuable. Enamored with each other and their shared life, Shane and Hannah are charming guides.
Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781250620712
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change.
Artist and activist Vaid-Menon demonstrates how the normativity of the gender binary represses creativity and inflicts physical and emotional violence.
The author, whose parents emigrated from India, writes about how enforcement of the gender binary begins before birth and affects people in all stages of life, with people of color being especially vulnerable due to Western conceptions of gender as binary. Gender assignments create a narrative for how a person should behave, what they are allowed to like or wear, and how they express themself. Punishment of nonconformity leads to an inseparable link between gender and shame. Vaid-Menon challenges familiar arguments against gender nonconformity, breaking them down into four categories—dismissal, inconvenience, biology, and the slippery slope (fear of the consequences of acceptance). Headers in bold font create an accessible navigation experience from one analysis to the next. The prose maintains a conversational tone that feels as intimate and vulnerable as talking with a best friend. At the same time, the author's turns of phrase in moments of deep insight ring with precision and poetry. In one reflection, they write, “the most lethal part of the human body is not the fist; it is the eye. What people see and how people see it has everything to do with power.” While this short essay speaks honestly of pain and injustice, it concludes with encouragement and an invitation into a future that celebrates transformation.
A fierce, penetrating, and empowering call for change. (writing prompt) (Nonfiction. 14-adult)Pub Date: June 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-09465-5
Page Count: 64
Publisher: Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: March 14, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2020
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