Imogen and Ollie, co narrators of Anna Zoe Quirke's Something to Be Proud Of, are about the oddest odd couple you can imagine. Imogen is queer and autistic. She's also quite outspoken and can't stay silent in the face of injustice. She has two friends who actually are more like frenemies. He's the openly gay football captain. Needless to say he's a super popular big man on campus.
What they do have in common is family problems. Both have fathers who won't accept them as they are. Additionally Ollie's father has just moved out and filed for divorce, leaving his mother heartbroken. Ollie suspects daddy dearest of keeping a guilty secret--perhaps even having a side piece while married.
"I have long been aware that I inhabit a world that was built neither by nor for people like me. What I was not aware of, however, was that sometimes highly necessary wake up calls come in the form of drag queens in lilac wigs brandishing silk handkerchiefs at you." (If that isn't an irresistible first paragraph I don't know what is.)
Imogen leaves her first Pride festival, an event she'd really been looking forward to, feeling heartbroken and angry. The level of the noise and jostling took her out of her comfort zone. Her father's "You know, at some point, you're just going to have to accept that you're not going to be able to do some things like normal people" doesn't help. Not wanting a seriously diminished life, she decides to channel her anger into action.
"The very first Pride was a riot. People got mad at the ways they were being treated and then they did something about it."
Imogen is determined to have her town's first Pride event accessible to all. With no funds and no real friends she's going to need a lot of help. When the headteacher (in my opinion, a stone cold bitch) informs her that to form an activist society she'll need five members and a faculty advisor she starts recruiting. Ollie is the first person she approaches. He doesn't commit. But when he mentions Imogen's idea to a teammate whose girlfriend loves the idea he's roped in.
Pretty soon there's a small but determined group, some of whom have their own ideas for needed inclusion. They're raising awareness, holding events, and bringing in money...
...until they run afoul of the headteacher who bans the group, takes the money, and suspends Imogen...
...could this be the end of Imogen's crusade?
This deeply insightful and highly relevant narrative will captivate preteens and teens who see injustice and are determined to do something.
On a personal note, I am the mother of an autistic writer. I didn't know that she was autistic for the longest time. Amber was born in 1990. In the 90s, at least in central Maine, we were bombarded with frightening PSAs about the growing number of autistic kids. Basically the worst case scenario was presented as all encompassing. So I didn't see it in my intelligent, creative, very verbal child. Amber herself told me when she was an adult. She made sense. I am very proud that she's an activist, a feminist, a published author who is helping expand a more nuanced awareness by including autistic characters in her books and being open about her life, and the best daughter a mother could hope for.
A great big shout out goes out to Quirke and Amber and the other autistic authors who are doing so much to enlighten neurotypicals.
Jules Hathaway
