Book Review: "Allies: Real Talk About Showing Up, Screwing Up, And Trying Again" by Shakirah Bourne and Dana Alison Levy

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

All the books I read and review start off with the full 5 stars and I'm always hopeful that I'll finish the book with all 5 stars firmly in place.

I'm already confuzzled about who this book is aimed at - it sounds like adults who are looking for someone to support them through their difficulties standing up to people who are showing prejudice against them for whatever reason, but the publisher is a children's publisher and those who are sharing their stories are authors who write for teens, so I'm not sure what sort of headspace I need to get into - the disabled grown-up or the children's author?  I'll find out as I read I suppose.

Ah right, it's for teens 'cos the top of page 16 mentions "reading in school" so I know which headspace I'm in now  :-)

I'm about to put what  the first essay offered into practise with being a quiet ally... the second essay is an open letter addressed to "the young black queer" - the Q in LGBTQIA stands for "questioning" not "queer".  There, I'm already practising being a better ally!

This book is really good and all five stars are still firmly in place.  Up to section four now.

Oooh!  A child needing an ally because of his wheelchair... I'll be paying particularly close attention to this bit 'cos I use a wheelchair too!

The child in the wheelchair in this section has just opened my eyes into what happens in telethons like Comic Relief and Children in Need... the people that are featured are being used as tools to get money!  I've no doubt that the money *does* help those it's intended for, but like this writer has just said, instead of aiming to cure the incurable, they should be focussed on improving their lives too!

The writer who was wheelchair-bound and in need of transport after their accessible vehicle was crashed into, managed to raise the money her family needed to rent a vehicle while hers was being repaired.  She set up a Go Fund Me page to raise the money and tapped into her poster-child experiences to raise the money... what an incredible girl!

Oooh!  Maybe I was wrong at the start of this review when I said that the Q stood for "questioning" instead of "queer"?  A J Sass has just used both words on the same page, so maybe they are suitable for use interchangably?

Now they're talking about NaNo too... even more reason to love this book!

I'm exactly half way through the book now and the eighth section was amazingly different, in a good way, from the previous seven sections.

I dunno where the last several hours have disappeared to, but this book is incredible and I'm so glad I was able to get an ARC of it from NetGalley via the publisher!

Each and every one of those 5 stars are still firmly in place at the end of the book.  I reckon it's a must-read for everyone, teens and adults alike.