Family Week in Provincetown, Massachusetts, has been the world’s largest gathering of real LGBTQ families for more than 40 years—and it’s about time someone used it as the setting for a kids’ novel.
Middle schoolers Avery, Mac, Milo, and Lina have been coming to Family Week with their far-flung families ever since they can remember, but this summer feels different. They’re all sharing a beach house as usual, but Avery doesn’t want any of the others to know her dads are divorcing, much less why. Mac, who has been diagnosed as “twice exceptional” (both gifted and having learning disabilities), will be repeating seventh grade, and feels like everyone is finding their place except for him; being around the brilliant Milo isn’t helping. Milo, for his part, knows that everyone expects him to be excited about the trans-friendly, academically challenging boarding school where he’s gotten a scholarship for next year, but he’s not sure that’s really where he wants to be. His twin Lina, however, doesn’t see his doubts and is upset that he’ll be leaving her and loosening the bond they share as twins. She’s also worried that her earlier profession to Avery of a crush on her is unrequited.
With all of these changes in the air, will this be their last summer together at Family Week?
The personal and interpersonal challenges explored here hit familiar middle grade beats about growing up, finding oneself, social challenges, and often-oblivious parents, but the setting and the focus on not one but three queer families (including several queer youth as well as their parents) make the story something special—an ode to an event steeped in queer family history, culture, and joy. Author Sarah Moon understands the event’s significance and importance to queer families, and conveys this with warmth, appreciation, and a touch of humor. Any youth who have been there should find much that resonates; others may develop the urge to attend.
I should note, however, that neither of the organizations that run Family Week, Family Equality and COLAGE, are mentioned, except for a vague reference to the Family Week camps run by grown-up children of queer parents (which COLAGE organizes, although it isn’t named here). The book is thus happily not just an advertisement for the organizations or their event, even though it may spark readers’ interest in the week. (Full disclosure: I serve as a non-staff, volunteer member of the Family Equality Communications Committee.)
My only quibbles are that several shifts of perspective mid-page are jarring, and a reference to the “thousands of other gay families” at Family Week is over-enthusiastic—numbers have actually been in the mid-hundreds—but this is still a recommended title and a welcome love letter to the event that has become a source of community and connection for so many young people and their parents.
Milo and Lina are biracial (Asian and White) and their moms are Ashkenazi Jewish and Asian (Chinese); Avery is biracial (Black and White) and her dads are Black and White; her White dad is also Jewish; Mac is White and has a single, White mom.
