Grandad's Pride

Grandad’s Pride is a sweet and heartwarming picture book about village life.

Each summer Milly visits her Grandfather at an English village by the sea. His cottage is idyllic with pets and gardens to explore. Milly discovers Grandad’s box of resources from his days as a young man organising Pride events; a treasure trove of flags, photographs and placards.

Over a dinner time conversation Grandad educates Milly on the meaning of Pride and Milly convinces Grandad to hold a Pride parade in his local village. They easily convince the villagers to get involved and the small but extremely colourful and cute pride parade is a success.

It is refreshing to read a LGBTQI+ story that focuses on joy and not discrimination; in this story the village welcome the Pride parade idea with open arms and pitch in willingly.

I may be too old and cynical but this did read as slightly optimistic and unrealistic to me. I feel like those of us who have organised Pride events and read Pride history know that Pride began as a protest and that a lot of Pride events are marred with danger, violence, homophobia and transphobia.

I’m not certain what the right balance of realism and fantasy is for a colourful children’s picture book is, this one falls into fantasy for me. If you are looking for a gentle and uplifting, truly diverse and inclusive story of Pride for children this is the book for you.