Second Dad Summer will be published on the 5th of May 2020 by Red Chair Press/One Elm Books. They kindly granted me an ecopy of the book for review. I was not otherwise compensated for this post and all thoughts and opinions are my own.
I requested this book because I liked the premise: Jeremiah is a kid whose parents are divorced, and he spends every summer with his dad. His dad Al is bisexual, and has just moved into an apartment with his boyfriend, Michael. Jeremiah really doesn't like Michael or how hard he tries to be Jeremiah's friend. He especially doesn't like Michael's bike, which as a unicorn head and lots of streamers and glitter.
Jeremiah's apartment building also contains a grumpy old man called Mr Keeler, who is abusive towards Michael but Michael is kind to him anyway. It turns out that Mr Keeler is gay too, so I have to say I was surprised by the slurs that Mr Keeler throws at Michael. I can believe it would happen, but I would have liked a little bit more explanation about why Mr Keeler is like he is.
Jeremiah makes friends with a girl in a building opposite, a girl called Sage. She doesn't like Mr Keeler because he is very protective of the plants in front of the building, but through the book Jeremiah and Sage become friendly with him. Jeremiah also learns that maybe Michael isn't so bad after all.
This is a really cute chapter book. I think Jeremiah is around eleven or twelve years old, and I would say it is suitable for tweens aged nine to twelve. I liked the diversity within it, I liked how careful people were with each other and how many important conversations happened without the points being laboured.. I am giving this a very solid four out of five; I am looking forward to seeing what this author does next!
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