Rob Sanders shows why he’s one of the leading authors of children’s books about LGBTQ history, with a lyrical and moving book that conveys a life, an era, and a somber topic in a way both informative and age appropriate (4 to 8 years, according to the publisher). Sanders does not talk down to his young audience, but also manages to make the story accessible, clear, and respectful of its subject.
Sanders begins with the quilt that Cleve Jones’ great-grandmother made for him as an infant, “piece by piece,” stitched together with love. Cleve was bullied in school, however, and left home after his parents said they didn’t approve of him being gay. Sanders continues the theme of the quilt as Cleve finds “a patchwork of friends” in San Francisco and becomes part of the burgeoning LGBTQ rights movement, “Action by action. Voice by voice.”
He doesn’t shy from mentioning the assassination of Harvey Milk and George Moscone and the hurt and anger that the LGBTQ community felt, as things went “from bad to worse.” Then young gay men began dying of a mysterious illness, which we now know as AIDS. Some people thought that those with AIDS “deserved it,” but it continued to spread to every community. One night at a vigil for Milk and Moscone, Cleve handed out cardboard and markers for people to write the names of those they knew who had died of AIDS. They taped them to the wall of a building, and Cleve got the idea for making a quilt, which he did with the help of friends. News of the Quilt spread and many people contributed panels; it was displayed on the National Mall on October 11, 1987, and toured other cities and towns. Slowly, people began talking about the disease and taking action against it, “Piece by piece…. Action by action.” Sanders tells us at the end that Cleve still has his great-grandmother’s quilt, the one that inspired the larger one, a “monument … of fabric and thread.”
Sanders also notes that before he penned the book, he wrote a poem on the subject. The poem is reproduced in full on one final page, but also woven throughout the story, giving the entire book a poetic, measured feel, just right for the seriousness of the subject matter. The allegory of the quilt may seem obvious, but it is masterfully done, spun out over the course of the book but tying back to Cleve’s grandmother’s quilt, reminding us of the interplay between small, personal acts of love and large movements.
Jamey Christoph’s illustrations are warm and expressive, a perfect counterpoint to Sanders’ words. Cleve Jones is White, but the LGBTQ community around him is shown with a variety of skin tones. Helpful end matter includes more detailed information on Cleve Jones and Gert McMullin, whom Jones called “the Mother of the Quilt”; a Glossary; Sources; Timelines of both the Quilt itself and of AIDS in America; and a Discussion Guide that looks at whether there is a cure for AIDS, how people get it, whether HIV/AIDS was just a disease that gay men got (answer: no), why the government did not do anything about it, and what discrimination is and why it happens.
Sanders does not talk down to his young audience but also manages to make the story accessible, clear, and respectful of its subject. Disease and discrimination are never easy to write about for children in ways that are neither sugarcoating nor unduly frightening, but Sanders shows it can be done, giving us a story of pandemic and prejudice but also of empowerment and hope. Highly recommended.
