Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders, Steven Salerno
Published by Random House Books for Young Readers on April 10th 2018
ISBN: 0399555315
Pages: 48
Goodreads

“Pride” is a short biography about Harvey Milk’s political career, but mostly focuses on the creation of the rainbow LGBTQ+ flag. Written by Rob Sanders and illustrated by Steven Salerno, this inspiring book shows how Harvey worked hard to make his dreams of equality for LGBTQ+ people a reality through politics. Before a large march, Harvey thought, “we need a symbol,” and when he asked artist Gilbert Baker, Baker responed, “we need a flag!” So Gilbert worked on designing a flag and volunteers helped dip fabric into large vats of dyes and cut and sewed until they had a flag with eight colorful stripes.

The images in the book are bright and eye-catching and the text doesn’t shy away from difficult events, like Harvey’s assassination, but manages to maintain a positive and upbeat theme throughout. Change has happened and will happen and thanks to the rainbow flag, people have hope and pride. This is a picture book-style biography aimed at grades 1 to 3. This is a must-buy for any youth services non-fiction section!

Reviewed by Kate Radke, Walker Memorial Library, Westbrook