Sophie Hu, a middle schooler preparing for her school’s annual Rainbow Fair, looks forward to celebrating her heritage with her best friend, Katie, at the Chinese booth. But when Katie accidentally reveals Sophie’s Muslim identity, Sophie is reassigned to run the Muslim booth on her own. This change sparks a journey of self-discovery, as Sophie navigates shifting friendships and the expectations of her parents.

The book excels at portraying the emotions and uncertainties of young teenagehood, and every moment feels genuine. I appreciated how seamlessly I learned about Chinese Muslim culture through Sophie’s experiences. The author skillfully weaves in the theme of embracing one’s multi-faceted identity, reminding readers that it’s okay, and even empowering, to be more than one thing at a time.

I recieved a free eARC of this book. Thank you for the opportunity to read it

What do you do when efforts to celebrate diversity end up dividing?

Sophie is excited about her school's Rainbow Fair. Last year, she worked at the China booth along with her best friend, and it was great.

Except that this year her friend will be working at the new LGBT booth (and can only do one)...and to make matters worse, her friend accidentally "outed" Sophie as being Moslem. Except Sophie's family is non-practicing (except for not eating pork), and Sophie doesn't know what that means. Sophie is then put in a position of trying to represent a culture she doesn't know at all, support her friends in the China booth as well.....and feels left out with her friends who are doing the LGBT booth.

This book is a perfect example of how good intentions can go very, very awry. Because Sophie isn't just Moslem. The other kids in the China booth are, respectively more interested in Robotics and Drama than dragons and pagodas. The LGBT kids are also a mix of races and cultures, not just gay, trans, or bi...and so on. The good news is that, in this case, the kids realize what the adults don't, which is that intersectionality is more than a buzzword-it's the real world.

This is an excellent book and would be wonderful for class discussion. It doesn't shy away from issues of prejudice and discrimination and cultural clash, either. I wish I were more confident that it would be allowed in school and community libraries.

Thank you to Netgalley for the free ARC!

Diana Ma does a great job of exploring the concept of intersectionality with different kinds of identities in Rainbow Fair. The main character, Sophie, is on a search to discover what her different identities mean to her throughout the book. Coming from a proud Chinese family, she is confused by the way that her parents seem to hide their Muslim identity from the outside world. Sophie is not sure why this is the case and starts to explore what being Muslim means to her when she is asked to create the Muslim booth at her school's Rainbow Fair. The teacher seems to be behind the times when she insists that each student can only work on one booth (as if everyone only has one group that they belong to!). As a result, Sophie and her best friend Katie, are no longer working together on the Chinese booth (as they have for the past several years). Sophie is now working on the Muslim booth and Katie is working on the new LGBTQ+ booth. What I appreciated about this book is the way that on their own, the students decide how to modernize the Rainbow Fair by integrating the different booths at the Rainbow Fair in creative ways! By the end of the book, Sophie also starts to understand more about where her parents are coming from and her own identity.