Awards

• ALA Rainbow List
• Kids' Book Choice Award Honor Book
• NCSS/CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People

Overview

Sewing the Rainbow is the powerful story of Gilbert Baker and the creation of the rainbow flag. This book takes readers from Gilbert’s childhood in a small town in Kansas where he didn’t fit in, to his historic artistic career in San Francisco. Today the flag is everywhere, even in the small town where Gilbert grew up! This book shows that when you see a rainbow flag, you’ll know it’s okay to be your colorful self. Includes a “Note to Parents and Caregivers” with more about Gilbert and the flag’s history. Included in the Top 10 of ALA’s GLBT Round Table 2019 Book List.

Full Product Details

9781433829024

Table of Contents

Reviews

A colorful tribute to Gilbert Baker... 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.... It's clear this book has a lot of love for the flag's promise. --Kirkus Reviews

National Parenting Product Award Winner (NAPPA) A colorful tribute to Gilbert Baker... 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.... It's clear this book has a lot of love for the flag's promise. --Kirkus Reviews The story of the rainbow flag is just as much Gilbert Baker's story as it is the LGBTQ+ movement's story. Dr. Gayle Pitman tells the story of a sensitive boy who loved art and grew up to unite the world. Holly Clifton-Brown's colorful illustrations give us an apple-cheeked, sweet-faced boy who just wants to create; her artwork goes wonderfully hand-in-hand with Dr. Pitman's prose to engender empathy in reader... This story pairs nicely with Rob Sanders and Steven Salerno's book, Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag, which has a nice little cameo by a grown-up Gilbert. Sewing the Rainbow is a must-add to your biography collections. --Mom Read It I love how this story teaches us about Gilbert Baker and his legacy, but is also unapologetically direct about the importance of letting kids be themselves even if their personalities don't fit into some kind of society approved gender-specific boxes. Personalities are meant to shine, not be squashed and molded into a form that we think is appropriate. --From the Inside I am so happy to see a picture biography about Gilbert Baker and his legacy, which can at times become sidelined when when we focus on Harvey Milk in our queer history....I appreciate how paralleling the story of his creating the rainbow flag is his story of being free to be himself after childhood and early young adulthood experiences of peoples' disapproval of him. This is, of course, what the flag represents. The story celebrates unity, in diversity, symbols, creativity and that we should never feel ashamed of letting our inner sparkle show. The illustrations are bright and colorful, perfect for the story. This is an important addition to your units on inclusion, tolerance and lgbt history. --Miss Marple's Musings

Author Information

Gayle E. Pitman, PhD, is a professor of psychology and women's studies at Sacramento City College. Her teaching and writing focuses on gender and sexual orientation, and she has worked extensively with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) community. Holly Clifton-Brown is an illustrator and artist based in Somerset, England. She graduated from the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol) in 2008, and has since published several picture books and illustrations for an array of international publishing companies and clients.

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