A review by invincibleink
Crystal's House of Queers by Brooke Skipstone

4.0

I enjoyed this story. It was good to see queer representation in a positive and empowered light. The characters go through tough and realistic problems, but the tone is positive. I had trouble with the timeline, which seems too compressed--the whole story takes place over the course of a few days, definitely less than a week, and in that time there are new relationships, found family, and a ton of personal and emotional growth. The teenage characters are able to take a very emotionally mature view of others and their circumstances. Not to say that it's impossible, just that given the issues they had to work through and the short timeline, I would have understood/expended more angst on the way there. I also had difficult with the opening scene, which is maybe more graphic than I would expect in a teen book, at least on the first page. Of course a page later it turns out to be a dream, but it could put off some readers (or scandalize parents, whose teens might benefit from reading the book). I liked the way Crystal's drawings really show her talent and are incorporated into the story as illustrations. I also liked the representation of learning disabilities/differences and the rural Alaska setting.