< RETURN TO children’s and middle grade
AUTHOR: Benjamin Klos
PUBLISHER: One Elm Books
LANGUAGE: English
DATE: 2020
PAGES: 224
ISBN: 9781947159242
Second Dad Summer
by Benjamin Klos
Jeremiah wants a normal summer with his dad. His dad just moved into an apartment to live with his new boyfriend, Michael. It’s soon clear that Jeremiah’s dad is getting closer to Michael’s group of friends, something that would be good if it wasn’t making Jeremiah feel invisible. Fortunately, there’s Sage, the only other kid in their hipster neighborhood. Although Sage is quirky, their friendship is cemented at the Pride festival when Jeremiah finds out Sage has two moms. Two moms –like he might have two dads if he doesn’t put a stop to Michael. Enter Mr. Keeler, the grouchy old smoker from downstairs who has an ongoing feud with Michael. It’s looking like this is going to be a long summer.
INCLUSION CRITERIA
A significant main character (Jeremiah’s dad, Allen) identifies as bisexual on-page. A significant plotline revolves around bisexual identity, same-gender parents, and Pride.
TROPES
[coming soon]
SUGGEST A TROPE:
QUOTES
“Since when did you go to Pride things? I said.
Dad smiled. “Since Michael. It’s important to him.”
I hesitated, looking out over the sparkling water. “Is it important to you, too?”
“Yeah,” Dad said. “It’s becoming more important anyway.”
“Why?” I asked. Dad picked up a stone and skipped it out over the water. “Lots of reasons. Michael, first of all. But I haven’t really had time in my life where I expressed that part of me. My bisexuality. It’s always been there, something I wanted to think of as normal. I guess now I’m starting to think important stuff shouldn’t just be normal. It should be special.”
“When dad had said bisexuals had their own flag, I thought he had been teasing, but they really did. It struck me how little I knew about Dad being bisexual. I always just kind of lumped it in with gay. Or maybe gayish. Mom called it “Diet Gay”, but it wasn’t.
“Was I really ashamed of Dad? Why was my first impulse to hide him? It was the same thing Mom always did. She never talked about Dad being bi. She said she wanted to give him a fair chance in people’s mind. But was it really fair to hide who he was?”
SUGGEST A QUOTE:
Similar Titles
