Book Review - 'The Big Day' by Rachel Plummer (Writer), Forrest Burdett (Illustrator)

 'The Big Day' (subtitled 'A GIANT celebration of love') is one of the shortest picture books I've read, and it is one of the most loving and beautiful.

Its art and colours are gorgeous and breathtaking. It's an adorable and clever popup book for children. It's all whimsical and fantastical, with fantasy creatures and magical, glitzy, sparkling, witchy people galore. It's so colourful and scrumptious - look at the food at the wedding! The rhyming is great and fun.

And of course, it is an LBGTQ+ children's picture book, with an immensely powerful "love is love" message, from the point of view of a little child who is invited to the wedding of two same sex giants. The grooms are literal giants, in giant love. Even the child's gender is left ambiguous.

This shouldn't be too surprising, though, as the writer, Rachel Plummer, did write 'Wain: LGBT reimaginings of Scottish folktales'. She is going strong, in the fight for progress and equality in the form of poetry for young readers.

It makes me so happy that books like these are being published and sold openly and nearly everywhere. I first saw 'The Big Day' in my local library in the children's section, displayed on one of the shelves at the forefront, as one of the first books that everyone will see. 'My Magic Family' was among them. (There are plenty of LBGTQ+ books for children and teens in my library, and I am proud of every person who works there). It gives me hope. For a better, happier, more loving and peaceful future, with equality and freedom for everyone.

We have come a long way from 'The Legend of Korra', 'Heather Has Two Mummies', 'And Tango Makes Three', and 'Princess Princess Ever After'. Other things to thank include: 'A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo', 'Molly's Family', 'Heartstopper', 'Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda', 'Mooncakes', 'The Prince and the Dressmaker', 'Love, Violet', 'Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales', 'Cinder & Ella', and 'She-Ra and the Princesses of Power'.

I like to think that this giant wedding is what weddings are partly like in 'The Owl House', too.

'The Big Day' is short, like a collection of snapshots in a wedding album, but it is far from small. It is sweet and enchanting.

Wait, is the child's mum not accepting of giants and/or queer people? And giants and/or queer people getting married? In saying goodbye to their mum to go to the wedding, the child leaves out that it is a giants' wedding that they are going to, with this line, 'I knew the word GIANTS would only vexate her.' Is this a metaphor for unsupportive and intolerant parents? Who view giants as scary and threatening, and who eat children? Giants eating small children is an in-universe stereotype that is in the text at one point, and it can read as a parallel to the real life conservative fearmongering of LBGTQ people being "predatory" to children. It's a sad element to add in an otherwise overwhelmingly positive picture book, even if it is, unfortunately, realistic. For a fantasy book, that is.



'"Young human, you're small now, we know, but love is a force that makes tiny things grow. We're sending you back with a message for all: that love is just love, whether GIANT or small."'.


'Now, some things are stories, and others are real.
But this is the truth, not some meaningless spiel.

Whoever you one day might get married to,
you're worth celebrating.
You matter. You do.'



It's like a gay Dr. Seuss.

A rainbow cake of a book. A celebration of love, indeed, be it true.

Final Score: 4/5