I feel that more could have been done to showcase the wide variety of types of human appearances that exist - I hope that Nidhi Chanani will present a more diverse range of background characters in her future works. Unfortunately, the background characters (such as athletes on posters, audiences and fellow weightlifters) have a range of skin tones, but not very diverse body types - they are all slender or muscular, of average height, with conventional gender presentations, not wearing any identifying items for religion or culture, and not visibly disabled.

There are only two main characters, both based off real people with similar body types and skin tones, so there is not a lot of room for incidental visual diversity in the main cast (though I did enjoy Rob's bright clothes and hair). The choice of typefaces worked well with the story (a sans serif body text with a big, heavy bold capslock for emphasis in places) and they were straightforward to read. This book presented no problems for me - the illustrations are crisp and clean, and on the occasions where textures are used I found them very manageable. I am autistic and I have some difficulty visually processing certain art styles, especially where they are 'visually noisy' with lots of scribbles, textures and so on. It was also great to see him taking part in both American football and cheerleading - no gender-stereotype restrictions here!Ī clear art style. I especially loved the interplay of words and pictures in the spread where 'he felt MIGHTY like an elephant STURDY like a boulder POWERFUL like a rocket'. Lively and endearing text that works well with the charming images. It's sweet and it doesn't get in the way of the main story, but rather serves to complement it. Rob and Joey's romantic relationship is present in both text and image, which is a very positive point because much of the LGBTQIA+ representation in books for young people is relegated to only one or the other, or only permitted in coding rather than being canonically mentioned. 4/5 - Does everything (or almost everything) expected from it very well.Įmpowering #OwnVoices representation of an LGBTQIA+ champion athlete - the first and only openly gay strongman in the world, Rob Kearney.Ĭanon romantic representation. He falls in love with fellow weightlifter Joey, who supports him in challenging the status quo and dressing brightly to express himself in competitions. An uplifting true story about champion strongman Rob Kearney.

Rob kearney strong book