Am I the only one that seems to miss out on all of the bookish drama? It wasn’t until I finished reading this book that I realised there was a load of controversy around it. When looking on Goodreads, it became apparent that people were taking issue with the title of the book and the effect it might have on children in the care system. I understand that you have to be careful about these thing but it’s clear that most of the people making a fuss haven’t actually bothered to read it. After all, the more you know, the harder it is to complain about everything. You might say that, as someone without any connection to the adoption community, that I’m not qualified to comment on the argument. However, it’s clearly an opinion shared by Adoption UK as they’ve published a positive review of Hana Tooke’s book. I’m sorry a bunch of Karen’s are miffed but this isn’t fair to a good children’s book.
Talk about “exciting times”. There was a huge question mark over whether or not I’d get this book finished in time to write my review today. I had a bit of chunk left on Monday night but I had an early blood test the next day. This meant minimum late-night reading. The plan was to finish it on my lunch break on Tuesday. Unfortunately, that never happened. A big issue with working from home is the proximity of my bed to my workstation. I tend to eat lunch as I work and have a break later in the afternoon. This means I can spend the whole time doing nothing. Yesterday, I set my alarm for an hour and had a nap. It was pathetic. I’m not going to be fit for anything once I’m no loner shielding. Still, it got me through the rest of the day. It did mean that I had to quickly get through the final 60 pages and write this review all in the same night. As you can guess, I managed it and with a pretty good chunk of time to spare. It’s all down to the power nap.
I’ve probably said this far too many times recently but I had decided that I was never going to read this book. I’d been put off by the bright pink colour and the title. I couldn’t help but imagine romantic-comedies or YA fiction. I’m not against back protagonists but I am against anything too sentimental and lovey-dovey. I don’t really do romance. I’m too cynical for hearts and flowers. However, I’ve only heard good things about this book so I had to try it for myself. And it’s just another way to add to my anti-racist reading list. The more non-white authors and protagonists I embrace the better, right?
