by Ian Eagleton
“I deserve to be happy.
I deserve to be loved…
I deserve digestive biscuits smothered in butter with hunks of cheddar cheese…
I am William Huxley and I am perfectly imperfect. I am loved and I am brave and I belong”.
It’s the start of Year 6 and William is resolved to try and confront Change with a big ‘C’. But there's a lot! And, too many things are threatening to disturb the familiar routines and patterns he’s sure he needs to feel secure and safe. First, new girl Florence, aka Boudica, is put next to him in class, bringing with her a solid wall of ultra-cool aloofness and an infuriating talent for art (William's doman). Far worse is that his dad seems to be falling for a tanned, cargo-pants-wearing, silver fox called Ross, a growing attraction which starts to interfere with their fixed family traditions- Mondays are reserved for pasta pesto and Miss Marple; Thursdays are for salmon and Murder She Wrote. The absolute worst of all is that this distraction is Rude Boudica’s dad! And so begins a dastardly plot in which William and Florence are forced to combine their wit and talents to set ‘The Dad Trap’ designed to keep both William’s and Florence’s existing family set ups intact.
A fun, bounce-along, narrative full of Eagleton’s trademark lightness of touch which nevertheless bundles up content-rich ideas around belonging and identity. As the author says, “I never saw inclusive, diverse books when I was a kid and I don’t want any other child to feel left out of the literary space”. William is adopted by his Dad, Ted, as a toddler. That journey is movingly captured in letters and journal entries kept by Ted as he creates his family, something he had thought would never be possible to him as a gay man. Homophobic prejudice of the past and in the present are recognised with absolute clarity while also fiercely pushed back against. Florence is adjusting to the breakdown between her Dad, Ross, and her mum. William, who has been assessed for autism and ADHD, is learning to manage the triggers which unsettle him and is also trying to bridge the yawning gap between him and former best friend, Jabari, a friendship between boys described with wonderfulness tenderness. Above all, each of the key characters is finding their own way to a place of belonging and love and to an ease and pride with who they are.
(nb: extra delights for us were: Florence’s range of feminist statement t-shirts; the rare acknowledgement of the key roles aunties & uncles can play in children’s lives in the figure of surely-everyone’s-best Auntie, Erin; the irrepressible young firecracker, Delia [who also has two mums]; the very rare portrayal in pre-teen children’s fiction of a bisexual character- Ross]. Age 9-13, Paperback 360pp
Themes: LQBTQ+ Themes: Diverse Families Themes: Bullying