Description
Book SynopsisA boy selkie who takes girlness off like a sealskin, an untameable kelpie, the warrior-wife of a princess, and a Loch Ness monster who is too busy having fun to worry about words like “girl” or “boy”. This is the way the world is - with just a bit of Scottish myth and magic thrown in. Wain is a fully-illustrated collection of LGBT themed poetry aimed at teens (but suitable for all ages) based on retellings of Scottish folk tales. These poems immerse readers in an enriching, diverse and enchanting vision of contemporary life.
Trade ReviewPlummer’s message of supportive positivity and self-affirmation through legend and myth reassures any young reader that there are so many shades of being — that it is important, though often hard, to be who you are or want to be, not what others demand or expect to you be. [...] These poems are a deeply humane and necessary way of rehabilitating the old with the new and I wish as a child I’d had access to such resources as the poems and paintings in Wain.
-- Richie McCaffery * Poetry School *
Rachel Plummer’s Wain represents an ideal project in the field of children’s/YA literature whose aim is to make the queer community feel like a welcomed and valid part of society, as it manages to harness and combine the educational power of folktales and the possibility of inclusive heritage. Though it is primarily targeting Scottish families, the fact itself that it is grounded in mythology gives it potential to appeal to readers all over the world. As such, Wain does not only fulfill the manifesto of LGBT Youth Scotland, but goes beyond it, helping not only Scotland, but the world be the best place to grow up for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex young people.
-- Tereza Walsbergerová * Re:Views Magazine *
