Sewing the Rainbow

February 1, 2019

K-Gr 2-This picture book focuses on notable events in the life of Gilbert Baker, creator of the Rainbow Flag, simplified into a fablelike story about a boy who was "full of color and sparkle and glitter." The colorful illustrations complement the simplicity of the text, contrasting the plain white or gray skies of small town Kansas and military life with full-bleed illustrations of a colorful San Francisco. The text maintains the allegorical distance throughout, referencing a symbol that was "a constant reminder of evil" without naming that symbol (the pink triangle), and reducing the interactions between Harvey Milk and Gilbert Baker to a single statement from "his friend Harvey." The text never uses the word "gay" or explicitly references the LGBTQ community, although that language can be found on the back cover and in the Reader Note. "Colorful, sparkly, and glittery" are instead used euphemistically throughout to stand in for gay or queer. A two-page densely packed "Reader Note" provides additional biographical information and context for many of the scenes in the book, giving much more detail about the San Francisco gay community and Baker's role in it. Rob Sanders's Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag provides greater historical context. VERDICT An oversimplified but useful text offering background on Gilbert Baker not found in other titles about the history of the Rainbow Flag.-Amanda Foulk, Sacramento Public Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2018
A colorful tribute to Gilbert Baker and his rainbow flag.Gilbert, "a little boy who was full of color and sparkle and glitter," grew up "where everything was gray and dull and flat." His grandmother's clothing boutique supported his love for fashion, soon crushed by paternal disapproval. He could be "his colorful, sparkly, glittery self" only in San Francisco, moving there after his brief, disastrous military service. Surrounded by the city's famed painted ladies, Gilbert rediscovers his passions, creating the rainbow flag after a conversation with Harvey Milk. The art is beautiful and bright, transitioning powerfully from a subdued Kansan landscape to a flamboyant Bay Area. Some textual shifts are jarring, as when Gilbert "received a letter that knocked every last bit of sparkle out of him" and is suddenly in uniform, with no explanation about the draft. Similarly, before the flag's invention, "There was just one thing that continued to blemish their beautiful city. It was a symbol that, in Gilbert's community, was a constant reminder of evil." This confusing allusion to the pink triangle is explained only in the densely packed author's note, and the word "gay" never appears in the story; readers must wait to learn about the rainbow's direct connection to LGBTQ identities in the endnote.It's clear this book has a lot of love for the flag's promise that "it's okay to be your colorful, sparkly, glittery self," but it elides a clear description of the communities it's for. (Picture book/biography. 4-8)

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