The Big Book of Pride Flags

Category: Picture books Tags: LGBTQ History, Multiracial/ethnic family/protagonist(s) (many or unknown identities), Pride

Description
Additional information

Pride flags across the LGBTQIA+ spectrum fill this colorful book. Each page also offers a bit of history about the flag as well as an explanation of the identity(-ies) behind it and what the colors mean. LGBTQIA+ people of various racial and ethnic identities, body types, and physical abilities populate the pages, too, providing human representation of each identity in the flags.

At the end is a blank flag and the encouragement for readers to “Create your own Pride flag!” A Reading Guide asks questions like “Which flag is your favorite and why?” and “Why do you think it is important to learn about the different flags and who they are for?”

While the book is generally fun and informative, a few of the descriptions could be improved: An asexual person doesn’t “lack” sexual attraction—a word that implies they don’t have something they should. The creator of the pansexual flag is omitted, though (as far as I can tell) they seem to be a person named Jasper who first posted it to Tumblr (and later tweeted about its history). And although the book mentions the updated Progress Pride flag that incorporates the Intersex flag, the image omits the purple circle of the Intersex flag (at least in the digital review copy I saw). It’s also not exactly correct to say that Harvey Milk asked Gilbert Baker to create a flag for the LGBTQIA+ community, when that full acronym was not in use at the time.

Given that the book may end up in schools and be read in group settings, too, I would also have liked to see the Ally Flag added so that children who are not members of the LGBTQ community can better engage with the book and begin to think about the importance of their support to the LGBTQIA+ community (especially if they are asked to “Create your own Pride flag” at the end).

Nevertheless, this is a positive book that should definitely engage young readers—and may even teach older ones a thing or two about the meanings behind some of these symbols. I’ve noticed that many kids love memorizing great swathes of information about things in a category (dinosaurs, Pokémon, etc.); I have to imagine that their capacity for Pride flags and their colors is similarly large, and this book happily supports that interest.

Flags included: