This is a beautifully and colorfully illustrated book about Gilbert Baker's life. As a child, Gilbert loved to draw dress designs and dreamed of one day creating real dresses. Perturbed by his son's gender-nonconformity, Gilbert's father tore up his drawings. Later, as a young man, Gilbert was drafted by the U.S. military and then honorably discharged for refusing to shoot a gun. He moved to San Francisco, where he found his community, taught himself to sew, and eventually created the iconic rainbow flag that became the universal symbol for the LGBTQ community.

I enjoyed this picture book biography of a person who is saved by others like him, who supported and celebrated the very interests and strengths for which he had previously been persecuted. This book about Gilbert Baker is much-needed; he is an important LGBTQ historical figure who is not often discussed. Little details in the text and illustrations of this story really bring it to life, such as the process of dying strips of fabric to make the flag. I greatly appreciated the author's note at the end of the book, although I would have liked even more detail within the story itself.

I had no idea! I had never heard the story of the rainbow flag, I just knew it was used by the gay community. This was actually a pretty interesting book, even if it was for very young kids. The end of the book features further info for older kids and adults. Illustrations were nice, too.

Cute book. I thought about giving it 4 stars because the picture book itself does not delve into why a flag was needed nor its monumental significance, but overall it is a good introduction to Baker and his legacy.

Sewing the Rainbow is the true story of Gilbert Baker who struggled to find his true self through childhood and young adulthood. Life in his small Kansas town was dull and grey. After being drafted to fight in a war, Gilbert was sent to San Franciso. There, things were more colorful.

He found a way to use his passion and his gifts to support his community. He became one of the banner and flag makers for many of the protests and marches in the city. Gilbert continued to add color by designing and sewing the rainbow flag, which became a symbol for a movement (thanks to a conversation with his friend, Harvey Milk).

Gilbert's story reminds us that we are created in the image of God, not in the image of each other. There is tension in the story between Gilbert looking up to his grandmother and his father forcing him to do more "boy things." It is every child's journey to live into the image of God within.

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. Written by Gayle E. Pitman, and illustrated by Holly Clifton-Brown, Sewing the Rainbow tells us the story of Gilbert Baker: of growing up in the early 1950’s in Kansas, being drafted into the army, and of discovering the freedom of being able to be oneself without limits. And it also tells the story that we are who we are and we should never feel ashamed of that.

Taken from the true story of icon Gilbert Baker, Sewing the Rainbow teaches us how he discovered a whole new world when he was stationed in San Francisco in the early 1970’s, which led him to go back to his early childhood dreams of sewing and creating beautiful colorful designs, dreams that were ripped apart at an early age by his father. In 1978 he designed the first rainbow flag, a symbol for the diversity of the LGBT community. This flag is still today a universal symbol.

The book comes with a great Reader Note for parents (and older children), which explains Gilbert Baker’s background in depth, as well as his important role in the gay liberation movement. As a family we are always on the look-out for books that don’t conform to a stereotypical white, middle-class, cis public’s viewpoint, as well as diverse literature to ensure that our kids not only feel represented, but that they understand that it’s normal to be different and to love and embrace difference. Sewing the Rainbow fits perfectly into the type of books that I love to read to our kids, and one that I hope will make it into the hands of all kinds of families, schools, and libraries.

And the illustrations are gorgeous, bright and colorful, perfect for the story. My kids loved showing me how well they knew the colors of the rainbow, and I really enjoyed explaining what each color represents in the flag.
(I also love that the author teaches in Sacramento where we currently live, and the illustrator is British, where I am originally from. It made me smile!).

Sewing the Rainbow will be released through the American Psychological Association/Magination Press on June 4th.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

I am extremely disappointed by this book. It was a cute, fun read, but the story does not use the word "gay" at all. Instead it refers to Baker as different and sparkly, which adults know how to decode, but children will not. So I don't see the point of this story being told this way for children. Erasing the gay aspect of the story prevents the story from having the greater meaning for the very children the rainbow flag is supposed to represent. I don't even believe that the story needs to be changed that much; simply substituting the word "gay" for the instances where it says "sparkly" could make the whole book more meaningful and relevant.

I enjoyed this uplifting story and illustrations. It is very important that children see themselves in literature as well as diversity in books. I would not be able to use this book for classroom read aloud yet but I could recommend it to parents of students who have identified as LGBTQ. Thank you APA and Magination Press for the wonderful ARC through Net Galley.

Hooray, another picture book that shows that even though you feel as though you don't fit in, it is not you, it is the world around you that isn't letting you fit in. This sweet little picture book takes the story of Gilbert Baker from his beginnings in Kansas, where he was forced to give up his love of sewing and drawing, so that he would be a real man, to his time in San Francisco, in the Castro, where he could be who he wanted to be all along.

Oh, gosh, I love this book, but there is a big but. I will get to that towards the end of this review. In the meantime, let me gush about how absolutely fabulous this little picture book is. It so very simply tells the life of Baker, the man who designed the first rainbow flag for the LGBTQ community.

Until Gilbert created the flag, the pink triangle was the symbol of gay pride, even though it was a reclaimed symbol from the mark assigned to gay men in the concentration camps. A black triangle, so the story goes, was assigned to the lesbians, and when I was younger, that was the symbol that I was most familiar with.

It feels as though the flag has been around forever, but as this story tells, it only came about in 1978 when Supervisor Harvey Milk suggested it to Baker, who, until then, was just designing clothes and flags for the people of the community. As the comments at the end of the book point out, however, that was also the year the Harvey Milk was assassinated.

And this is really well done, explaining in very simple terms, how the flag came about, but here I come to the one niggling thing that is bothering me about the book, and it a little thing, because I'm probably the only one who would notice it, because I am a stickler for historical accuracy. As mentioned above, this story takes place from the 1950s-1978. The pictures of the the skyline include the <a href="http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM70P8" target="_blank">tweezer building</a>, which was built in 1986. Plus, the view from the Castro, which is where the story takes place, would not have looked out that way. It would have been looking at the pyramid building, which was around at that time.

Other than that minor fact, this is a great book, and I hope it is handed out in libraries and in schools so that children who are feeling that they don't fit in, know that it isn't them.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.