Today is Harvey Milk’s birthday, now observed as Harvey Milk Day—so here are four books for children, from a board book to an early reader—that tell the story of this LGBTQ hero!
- Harvey Milk (People of Pride), from Little Bee Books and with illustrations by Victoria Grace Elliott (2020), is a simple take on Milk’s life, though not as simple as the board book format might imply. We learn about his life from his days in the Navy to his time running a camera shop in San Francisco and deciding to run for political office. We see how his campaigns inspired others to come out. Once elected, we read, he worked on a law to stop gay people being fired from their jobs, fought other injustices, and was among those who asked Gilbert Baker to design a symbol for the LGBTQ rights movement—the rainbow flag. The book does not mention his assassination, which feels appropriate for the publisher’s stated age range of 2- to 5-year-olds. Yet that age range seems miscalibrated to the level of language used, which feels better suited to 5- to 7-year-olds. That’s not because the content is inappropriate for the very youngest children; but words like “trailblazer,” “campaigns,” “spectacular,” and “represented,” as well as more complex sentences and concepts (like “civil rights,” “public service,” and “political office”) may mean younger children simply won’t understand them yet. It’s not a bad little book, though, if you don’t mind explaining a few things along the way.
- Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag, by Rob Sanders and illustrated by Steven Salerno (Random House, 2018), is a biography of Milk that emphasizes his friendship with Gilbert Baker, who designed the rainbow flag as a symbol of hope and inspiration. Sanders deals as gently as possible with Milk’s death, noting that he and San Francisco mayor George Moscone were assassinated by a man who did not think, feel, or love like Harvey. He then explains that people continued to create the flags as a symbol of hope, pride, and equality. A brief afterward and timeline give further details for those who want them.
- Â The Harvey Milk Story
, by Kari Krakow and illustrated by David Gardner (Two Lives Publishing, 2002) is a slightly older book that goes into more detail about Milk’s life and work, making it best for the older end of the picture-book crowd. It conveys Milk’s significance with warmth and appreciation, but does mention Milk’s assassination, so parents should be prepared to address kids’ concerns there. Unfortunately out of print and only available in used versions or in libraries.
- Who Was Harvey Milk? by Corinne A. Grinapol and illustrated by Gregory Copeland (Penguin Workshop, 2020) brings us into early reader/early middle grade territory for those ready for something a little more substantial than the picture-book biographies, but still highly illustrated and not too densely worded. As with any biography of Milk, parents and teachers should be ready to answer children’s questions about homophobia, other forms of bias, and Milk’s assassination.