This Is Our Rainbow » Marieke Nijkamp

Illustrated cover of This Is Our Rainbow, featuring characters from all the various stories gathered around a Progress Pride flag.

Cover artist: Jes & Cin

The first LGBTQIA+ anthology for middle-graders featuring stories for every letter of the acronym, including realistic, fantasy, and sci-fi stories by authors like Justina Ireland, Marieke Nijkamp, Alex Gino, and more!

A boyband fandom becomes a conduit to coming out. A former bully becomes a first-kiss prospect. One nonbinary kid searches for an inclusive athletic community after quitting gymnastics. Another nonbinary kid, who happens to be a pirate, makes a wish that comes true–but not how they thought it would. A tween girl navigates a crush on her friend’s mom. A young witch turns herself into a puppy to win over a new neighbor. A trans girl empowers her online bestie to come out.

From wind-breathing dragons to first crushes, This Is Our Rainbow features story after story of joyful, proud LGBTQIA+ representation. You will fall in love with this insightful, poignant anthology of queer fantasy, historical, and contemporary stories from authors including: Eric Bell, Lisa Jenn Bigelow, Ashley Herring Blake, Lisa Bunker, Alex Gino, Justina Ireland, Shing Yin Khor, Katherine Locke, Mariama J. Lockington, Nicole Melleby, Marieke Nijkamp, Claribel A. Ortega, Mark Oshiro, Molly Knox Ostertag, Aisa Salazar, and AJ Sass.

Marieke’s story: Splinter & Ash

For more adventures of Splinter and Ash, read the trilogy!

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Order your copy of This Is Our Rainbow at any of the following places (and wherever books are sold):
ISBN-10: 0593303946| ISBN-13: 978-0593303948

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Publishers

Reviews

Content Warnings

English
Publisher: Knopf BFYR

Original audiobook cover of This Is Our Rainbow

Audio – PRH Audio

☙ THIS IS OUR RAINBOW is the 2022 NAIBA Book of the Year (middle grade).

☙ THIS IS OUR RAINBOW is a 2022 Rainbow Book List pick.

☙ THIS IS OUR RAINBOW is a 2022 CCBC Choices pick.

☙ THIS IS OUR RAINBOW is a 2022 Skipping Stones Honor Award winner.

☙ THIS IS OUR RAINBOW is a Kirkus Best of MG 2021 pick.

☙ THIS IS OUR RAINBOW is one of Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2022 with outstanding merit.

☙ THIS IS OUR RAINBOW is a Maine Student Book Award nominee.

An essential read, this collection breaks free from the dichotomy of representing LGBTQ+ lives as total tragedy or one-true-love, happily-ever-after coming-out stories. Vital and liberating.
– Kirkus, starred review

Happily, the stories are uniformly excellent but there are, as always, some standouts. (…) Marieke Nijkamp’s “Splinter and Ash” stars a teen, assigned female at birth, who longs to be a knight. But how? Might it have something to do with falling in love with the princess?
– Booklist, starred review

Stellar. [A] strong amalgam of confidently written portraits that consider the joys, pains, and complexities that can come with being young and queer.
— Publishers Weekly, starred review

Stories vary in length and content (some skew older, such as Marieke Nijkamp’s “Splinter & Ash,” which features two masked characters befriending each other through an act of heroism that involves an assault); readers of all ages and interests will find something to love among them. VERDICT: This outstanding collection of LGBTQIA+ fiction is a worthy purchase for all collections serving tweens and teens.
– School Library Journal

Sure to become a staple in children’s literature, This Is Our Rainbow offers an uplifting and gripping collection of short stories for young readers. Whether you’re part of the LGBTQIAP+ community or an ally, you will devour this must-read anthology that is filled with magic and above all, immense love.
— The Nerd Daily

For Marieke’s story:
– Emotional abuse
– Bullying
– Transphobia

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