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A review by libraryofpeculiar
Raising Ollie: How My Nonbinary Art-Nerd Kid Changed (Nearly) Everything I Know by Tom Rademacher
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Huge thanks to University of Minnesota Press for sending me the copy in exchange for an honest review.
I have to admit I was super excited to start from the moment I read the synopsis. And I was not disappointed. I don't read alot of nonfiction books, memoirs, autobiographies etc. but this was probably the best nonfiction work I've ever read.
Tom Rademacher is one very honest and a very funny fellow, I wouldn't mind having a teacher like that when I was going to school. The stories he told here very very interesting — to me some more, some less. I love that he touched very important subjects all from racism, LGBTQIA+ rights, to how schools tend to fail their children and also a little talk of parenthood. I'm not a teacher or a parent myself and I was surprised when I found myself really enjoying chapters that talked about these things. The book has quite a big dose of humor, while also discussing all this matter very seriously.
Mr. Rad is also a really really good writer. You can literally feel his pride coming out of the book while he talks about Ollie. Which is honestly no surprise because Ollie seems to be one extraordinary kid. While I'm at Ollie, I thought there was going to be more talk about them being nonbinary, but the book was more focused on teaching and Mr.Rad's work as a teacher. Synopsis gives an impression like Ollie being nonbinary is going to be the main focus of the book, however it's not. It's more on the sides and thrown in here and there through the book. That's probably the only thing I'm "disappointed" about. Nonethless, I really enjoyed the book. Came for the nonbinary content, stayed for literally everything else that the writer gave us.
I want everyone to read this book. Especially teachers, because I think they could learn a thing or two about having POC and LGBT kids in their classroom.
I have to admit I was super excited to start from the moment I read the synopsis. And I was not disappointed. I don't read alot of nonfiction books, memoirs, autobiographies etc. but this was probably the best nonfiction work I've ever read.
Tom Rademacher is one very honest and a very funny fellow, I wouldn't mind having a teacher like that when I was going to school. The stories he told here very very interesting — to me some more, some less. I love that he touched very important subjects all from racism, LGBTQIA+ rights, to how schools tend to fail their children and also a little talk of parenthood. I'm not a teacher or a parent myself and I was surprised when I found myself really enjoying chapters that talked about these things. The book has quite a big dose of humor, while also discussing all this matter very seriously.
Mr. Rad is also a really really good writer. You can literally feel his pride coming out of the book while he talks about Ollie. Which is honestly no surprise because Ollie seems to be one extraordinary kid. While I'm at Ollie, I thought there was going to be more talk about them being nonbinary, but the book was more focused on teaching and Mr.Rad's work as a teacher. Synopsis gives an impression like Ollie being nonbinary is going to be the main focus of the book, however it's not. It's more on the sides and thrown in here and there through the book. That's probably the only thing I'm "disappointed" about. Nonethless, I really enjoyed the book. Came for the nonbinary content, stayed for literally everything else that the writer gave us.
I want everyone to read this book. Especially teachers, because I think they could learn a thing or two about having POC and LGBT kids in their classroom.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexism, Deadnaming, Mass/school shootings, Homophobia, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, and Death of parent