First, I'm a huge fan of History Comics to begin with. Second, while this subject is covered in other books, and some even quite well, I appreciate a non-fiction graphic novel even more. This one hits close to home as I have seen many people in the LGBTQIA community who would rather sit on the sidelines or run than fight. And, while I understand the desire, it's nice to have these characters learn and change (as I hope others will now). While this book covers the basics of the Stonewall Riots, where it really hits for me is the addition of much more LGBTQIA history. As big a history nerd as I am (and pretty well versed in LGBTQIA history), I learned a couple of new things. This will grace the shelves of the libraries I buy for. for sure! ( )

A well-done bit of educational historical fiction gives a brief overview of the Stonewall uprisings and the oppressive, institutionalized homophobia they were protesting. To hook young readers, some LGBTQIA+ teens from the present day time travel to the event through the magic of a grandmother's storytelling and spend a lot of time coming to appreciate how much better some things have become since and how other things are still just as bad. ( )

Natalia and her friends are transported back in time with her abuela to experience the Stonewall Riots first hand in this middle grade graphic novel from the History Comics series, published by First Second Books. The teens meet activists such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, and begin to understand that there all different sorts of ways to protest and stand up for your rights.

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This was an interesting way to learn about a historical topic rarely seen in most schools. It starts out with a letter of introduction from a LGBTQ historian. The graphic novel is a group of three modern kids helping their abuela move and they find a picture of her with another woman. Abuela she starts telling them what it used to be like before being bisexual was considered okay. She not only tells them about it she decides to show them and somehow magically transfers them back to 1969. She takes them to the Stonewall Inn but doesn’t pay attention to the date. They just so happen to get there on the date the riots start. I was under the assumption that the riots were a one night event but this made it sound like it was a few nights. In the back the author even admits that some things are not true. Obviously the two major figures in the stonewall riots did not meet three time traveling kids, however the author does make a very good point that history looks different to different people. So while there is no “official” account of what happened at Stonewall there are multiple different perspectives. After talking about stonewall the book goes both forward and backward into the LGBTQ movement including the fight, gay marriage, various alliances, and organizations, etc. Overall this book was a successful introduction to the topic that would be good for middle school and might get other kids interested in finding out what really happened. ( )