Description
Pansy Boy is a stunningly beautiful picture book about a child's journey to overcome bullying and be proud of who he is.
Told as rhyming poem, the story comes to life with vivid graphic art.
Out in the natural world, a boy is in love with its beauty. Flowers and birds in flight amaze him. But school beckons, and with it bullying from other children. How can he defend himself? Among the wonders of London's Kew Gardens, Pansy Boy learns the language of the flowers. Where bullies pinned his life with their hate, he plants a pansy. He hopes his plan will empower the school to value what is delicate and different.
Pansy Boy is inspired by the childhood of author and illustrator Paul Harfleet, the founder of The Pansy Project, a worldwide movement which plants pansies at the sites of homophobic attacks around the world. The book comes complete with a field guide to the flowers and birds contained in its pages.
"In the garden of Kew he read for hours, and learned the language of the flowers..."
About the Author
Paul Harfleet is an award-winning, London-based interdisciplinary artist that has exhibited internationally. He conceived and runs The Pansy Project, an artwork and an activist movement which plants pansies at the sites of homophobic attacks around the world. Starting in his home city of Manchester (UK), The Pansy Project has spread from New York to Berlin and beyond. Paul Harfleet's short documentaries, closely tied to specific cases of Pansy plantings, have been shown at various institutions and festivals including the Everybody's Perfect Festival (Geneva), The Spencer Museum of Art (Kansas), and the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa). Canal+ filmed Paul and his work for the multi-award winning documentary Les Pensees de Paul (2016). With travel restricted during the pandemic in 2020, Harfleet began Birds Can Fly, a queer exploration of ornithology. This ongoing project is a manifestation of Paul's life-long love of birds and reflects a resurgence in the cultural appreciation of the natural world, post-pandemic. Pansy Boy comes with a field guide to the flowers and birds contained in its pages. Paul Harfleet wrote and illustrated his picture book, Pansy Boy. It is inspired by the author's childhood, where he felt that tug between the world's natural beauties and a world that could be vicious to gay children.
Reviews
"Written and illustrated beautifully... the kind of book that celebrates difference" - The Guardian
"Beautiful, heartfelt, uplifting... Pansy Boy is a story of childhood innocence told through stunningly detailed illustration" - James Wong, Botanist, TV personality and author
"Heartfelt and Powerful" - Rachel Holmes, Chair of the Judges for the Polari Prize 2018
"Beautiful and thoughtful" - Kirklees Libraries (Huddersfield, UK)
"Pansy Boy acts as a platform for discussing the nuances of homophobia and bullying" - Let's Talk Picture Books Blog
Book Information
ISBN 9781909954243
Author Paul Harfleet
Format Hardback
Page Count 68
Imprint Barbican Press
Publisher Barbican Press
