This book reminded me of what I love about Middle-Grade books: the positivity, innocence, and simplicity of the subject. It pulled at my heartstrings, making me feel vulnerable, sad, and hopeful from the beginning. The questions it asks are basic but relatable: what does pride mean to you? What does it even mean to have pride? Why is it important to be able to celebrate who you are when you live in a society that wants you to hide?
When middle schooler Jake comes out to his parents, his father responds by hanging a giant rainbow flag outside of their house. Although at first this makes Jake embarrassed, soon he decides to push back in response to the negative feedback some people have in response. He determines his town should hold a pride festival. And with the help of supportive friends and family, he attempts to do just that.

He faces many barriers that make him question how much influence a young person can have on their community and if it's really possible to create change in a small town. There is a sweet age-appropriate romance and the characters get a chance to grow and expand their perspective.

I love that this story doesn't have the queer kids deciding to leave in order to find acceptance but they fight to make their community accept them as they are. And though you can't get everyone to accept you, you can carve out space for yourself and others like you with the help of the supportive members of a community. I absolutely recommend this book to people who enjoy reading middle grade and to give to children when you want them to see how they can make a difference in a difficult world.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
Small Town Pride is a sweet queer middle grade book from YA author Phil Stamper, and while I’ve only read one of his books previously, I’m already a fan of his writing and appreciate what he’s doing providing optimistic stories for queer kids…of all ages.
I loved the character dynamics of this book and how positive the rep and support is among the main cast. Jake is openly gay with a loving, accepting family and group of friends. They form a wonderful contrast against the bigots and naysayers, who at best pretend queer folks don’t exist, and at worst are outright hateful. I appreciate the way this is handled, especially when it comes to the political side, as that remains such a hot-button issue today.
And while queer people are a minority in the small Ohio town the book is set (and a stereotype of many a small town is how white and cishet it is), that doesn’t mean they and the supportive allies around them can’t or shouldn’t do their bit to make the world a more inclusive, welcoming place. And in the name of inclusion, it also explores the multifaceted nature of being queer and what that means to different members of the community.
This is such a wonderful, cozy gem of a book, and I’d recommend it to pretty much everyone, but especially queer kids and their families.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

First impression: Adored this middle grade gem about Jake, an 8th grader who has recently come out as gay. While his family and friends are supportive, Jake lives in a very small town, and not everyone is supportive of him being openly gay, especially the mayor who lives down the street from him. Jake, with the help of his parents, his best friend, and a surprising new friend, decide to throw their town's first Pride parade.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, which is as LGBTQIA+ friendly a place that can be. But while San Francisco and other metro cities have been celebrating pride for many decades, there are countless smaller towns out there that don't celebrate pride at all. This realization made this book especially meaningful. There are thousands of kids out there struggling in small towns, that don't have the same support that a big city has. And I loved that this book tackled this head on.

In the past few years, I know several kids that have come out. And they've been supported to just by their family, but by the broader community. That isn't the case in this book. Jake has wonderful parents, and I loved that his dad started some of the events of this book by displaying a giant rainbow flag in front of their house, to show everyone in town how supportive they are of Jake. But with the display of the flag came complaints, some of which were very hurtful to Jake, as it made him realize that not everyone accepts him for being gay.

I think the tone was spot on for middle grade. I could give this to my daughter tomorrow and she would likely devour it. I appreciate the queer representation and the depth of the characters. I appreciate that there are some tough moments in here, but because it is middle grade, it is ultimately uplifting.

Jake is an endearing main character and I am so happy to have more representation in middle grade fiction. This year, when my kids and I celebrate Pride, we'll think not just of the big parades that we're fortunate to have in our city, but also the smaller towns out there.

I really enjoyed this one. The characters were believable, there was good mental health talk, and no main character was bad or evil because of their beliefs. I loved the growth and discussions the pride festival brought about. As someone who grew up in a very small town, a lot of the attitudes rang true. Sometimes it takes a real life example to make you rethink what you believe.

Main premise was an eighth grader fighting for a pride parade in his small town in Ohio. A truly wonderful short story about Jake who wanted to feel like he belonged in his own hometown that he fought to have a pride festival for everyone to feel included, including himself. It started with Jake’s father hanging a huge pride flag in their front yard, yea dad, to show his support of his son coming out to them. Some people in the town didn’t like it and notified the mayor. The mayor wasn't too happy about this new development nor about Jake’s dream of a pride festival, but her own son, Brett, wanted to help Jake. With Jake’s best friend Jenna, his parents, and Brett, he worked on getting the town’s city council approval of a pride festival. It was such a delightful, sweet, and beautiful story about hope, inclusion, support, and love. Jake had to find his voice in speaking up about his sense of belonging and how he deserved to be treated with respect. Jenna and Brett were amazing allies, friends, and more. Truly loved his parents who were so thoughtful, supportive and loving. Overall, I highly suggest and recommend this gem of a book. You will not regret it. And lastly I wish every queer child, teen, or young adult reads this book and be inspired by the hope and inspiration of the story.
I received this ARC from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Small Town Pride is the story of a young man, Jake, who is gay in a small, rural community. The story is excellent and it is wonderful to read about a family who is so supportive of their LGBTQ+ child. However, I did not feel particularly taken with Jake's voice. Since the story is written from his perspective, it was less intriguing to read than some other novels on this topic.

As the first openly gay kid at his school, Jake is just learning how to settle into his life. After all, in the small town of Barton Springs, Ohio, not everyone is supportive of him. Especially when Jake's dad hangs a huge pride flag in their front yard. Which the town defintiely has opinions about.

When the mayor starts to receive complaints, Jake decides that he's going to throw his town's first pride festival. Even though there are people in Barton Springs who are absolutely against the idea. But Jake is determined. When the mayor's son, Brett, starts to take interest in spending time with Jake, he's at first suspsicious. But maybe there's another reason Brett wants to spend time with him.

Thanks to HarperCollins and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Small Town Pride to review! I'ved loved Phil Stamper's YA books, so I was definitely interested in reading his debut middle grade. Stamper definitely nails the voice, and I think middle grade readers will fall in love with Jake.

From the plot to the characters to the setting, I think everything about this book fits the middle grade audience perfectly. Jake is desperate to make a difference in his town, but only being in middle school means that he needs help from adults. And his parents absolutely step up! I love to see a queer middle grade book where the parents are nothing but supportive. Even if their large gestures of love might draw the wrong attention. The positive intent was there.

There are also a lot of queer middle grade readers who will find themselves in towns like Jake. It's so encouraging to see that even if the loudest people are the least supportive, there will be others that support them. Outside of Jake, Stamper does a good job fleshing out the surrounding characters, and I especially loved the evolving relationship between him and Brett. It was so middle school, and it was so perfect.

This will honestly be the perfect book to read going into Pride Month. Definitely pick it up when it comes out at the end of the month!

This upper middle grade book gave me all the feels! Jake and his friends want to throw a Pride event in their small village of 2,000 people, but community members are making that hard. Can people look past their prejudices and acknowledge the importance of making all villagers feel welcome and accepted? Jake's story will make you laugh, cry and sometimes break your heart, but ultimately it will leave you feeling hopeful.

What a beautiful and honest look at what it can be like as an adolescent LGBTQ+ person in a small town. Having lived through this experience myself and now teaching students going through this same thing, this is a touching story with all of the highs and lows. It's ultimately a hopeful story and presents this experience in a way that middle grade students will understand.

One of my favorite middle grades ever. This was wonderful. There are so many important but looked over details about the queer experience that I'm really happy were included in this and that kids, parents, and people in general will read and learn about or relate to. I do wish that there was more diverse representation in other regards and it was a bit slow for me in the beginning but overall I'd still give this a 4.5. Thank you to Netgalley for this e-book!

Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

"Hateful people are everywhere, I know that. But couldn't they just shut up for a minute? Why do they always have to have the last say when it comes to celebrating people who are different than them?"

English: Small Town Pride is an excellent story for lgbtq+ children, because the main character is in the struggle to make his small town a more inclusive place for the community, this book deals with issues such as acceptance and the importance of a safe space, that is why I firmly believe that it is a very good book for children.

However in my case I did not like it too much, and all the weight of this is carried by the protagonist, Jake, for me he was just an annoying kid who wanted his life to be perfect, even when you know that this can never always be so, besides he was quite ungrateful to his parents and his friend, it was really too annoying and childish for my taste and it hurt the story.

Also the way the events were handled throughout the book did not end up convincing me, but I must admit that the ending was nice.

Final Rating: 2.5 stars

This book gives such a realistic depiction of the homophobia dealt with by young queers in a small, rural town, without being overly tragic and still remaining appropriate for middle-grade readers. I love how much support Jake receives from his parents and from people in his community all throughout the story; it gives the book an overall very positive vibe.

If you are a young queer who has just wanted to be accepted by the community you live in, or if you have never understood what it feels like to be truly proud of your sexuality, or if you are just looking for a heartwarming queer story, then this novel is definitely for you! 🏳️‍🌈

This is a great middlegrade in a lot of ways, with a very lovable main character. I also especially adored Brett, who I want to protect with my life. For a book about pride, though, I would have liked to see more queer characters beyond one gay middleschooler and one bi one. Both because this book doesn't quite show how broad the LGBTQ+ community is, and because I would have liked to see more of a queer support system around these kids. I did however think this was an empowering story when it comes to finding the courage and strength to be out.

I think I finally found my Phil Samper book!

This book hit all the markers for my prefect middle grade, LGBTQ+, contemporary book. There was an adorable family core to the book that made me hopeful and warmed my heart. The friendships built and maintained were inspiring. I think that the whole book was realistic and yet idealistic at the same time but in a good way.

I don't know if this book is going to have a sequel but I would love to read a companion novel about this little town and this group of friends as they navigate high school.

I love this book with my whole heart.

This is a wholesome story about pride and finding your place in the world. Jake has loving and supporting parents, but the rest of his village doesn't feel the same way...lots of homophobes come out of the woodwork when Jake's dad flies a rainbow pride flag on their front lawn. With the help of a couple friends, Jake decides to take it one step forward and host a pride festival, right in Barton Springs.

There was so much I loved about this book. Jake's struggle to understand what pride means to him and reconcile pride in his identity with the pride and love he feels for his town is something that I know will resonate with a lot of kids. Coming from a small town myself, I know that struggle of loving a place, and that place not loving you back.

I loved the other characters as well! The mayor's son, Brett, had an amazing arc. <spoiler> I love that he was still in the closet and wasn't pushed to come out. I love that it talks about academic pressure and normalizes going to therapy. And this little crush going on between him and Jake! </spoiler> I also strangely loved the mayor as a character...she was controlling and tended to steamroll all discourse, and it reminded me a lot of my small-town school district's superintendent LOL. Jake's parents were pretty amazing and a great example of supportive and accepting parents.

The plot itself was really cute. Stamper wrote in the author's note about this trend of pride parades or festivals in small towns, and it was really cool to see that portrayed--maybe more kids will want to start their own festivals! But more than that, this book is really about what it means to have pride in your identity and yourself. I'm happy this wholesome book exists.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review.

Loved this one, gave me the warm fuzzies! So nice to see more and more LGBTQ books for middle grade, including those that are (mostly) about queer joy and love and pride rather than tragedy.

I LOVED this book! I started it at 11:30pm with the intention of reading a chapter or two before bed and got so caught up in it, I read the whole book (and didn't get to bed until 2:30am ha!) What a beautiful and inspiring middle grade story. I think this is a perfect book for kids to pick up during Pride Month in June and one that libraries and schools should definitely add to their shelves. I think this is a really important story to tell and I really appreciated the parents and the three main children's characters.

I think readers should go in knowing that there are moments of homophobia and other negative remarks toward the LGBTQ+ community. That being said, a lot of these remarks are triumphed over with positive responses and. characters like Jake's mom and dad valuing him and his experience. I think this can open up a lot of conversations about what pride means, the importance of speaking up for what you believe, and that sometimes people will oppose your thoughts, but there is always room for change.

Overall, this is a great book for young (and older) readers!

Small Town Pride is a sweet book about a young queer boy throwing a pride festival in his small town, despite the opposition he faces. I think this will be a great option for young queer kids looking for a book that represents their interests but is not so high-stakes. My only issue is that the dialogue is often exposition-heavy, which can make it feel awkward, but kids may not be bothered by it.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this advanced copy. It’s a good story that will make your heart break at times but also feel like bursting. I definitely will pass this on as a suggestion for my middle school students. It has a great message about belonging. It’s a good, clean story. I felt some parts were a bit rushed or a bit dull but overall good.

This was a lovely, warm and approachable middle grade book about a boy coming out and the supportive family/friends around him. He is confronted by the somewhat unsupportive community surrounding him but the story weaves its way through issues touching on identity, acceptance, self awareness, diversity and more in a thoughtful, kind way and comes to a resolution that feels real and comforting.
Very well done. The voice and tone are well written. Great for middle school kids and all ages.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.