Interview with Rob Sanders, Author of “Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag”
What made you choose to tell the story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag?
With most of my books, I’m hard pressed to remember when the inspiration hit, but with PRIDE: THE STORY OF HARVEY MILK AND THE RAINBOW FLAG my experience was totally different. I remember the exact moment the inspiration struck. It was the evening of June 26, 2015. The SCOTUS marriage equality decision had been announced earlier that day. I sat at home watching the news coverage, awestruck by the events of the day. Then, as cameras rolled in Washington, D.C. and dusk settled in, the White House suddenly was washed in the colors of the Rainbow Flag. At that moment, I realized that while most of my students had probably seen a Pride Flag, none knew what it represented, who inspired it, or who designed it. I decided then and there to write that story. I had the first draft written before the sun came up.
What were your hopes for the way this story would be shared? Were you envisioning that it would be read at home with families or in classrooms?
My first hope was that I could find a publisher interested in taking a risk on a book like this—a picture book for young readers. At that time, no other picture book had been published about the Pride Flag. (There were one or two about Harvey, however.) Random House was excited to take on the project and decided it would be released in time for the 40th anniversary of the creation of the Pride Flag. Then my hopes grew larger. I hoped that families would read the book together, that children would be able to check the book out of their class, school, and public libraries, that teachers would use the book in class, and more. Those hopes have become realities. Now I hope to see more nonfiction books about LGBTQ+ history being published for kids.
As a teacher, how do you incorporate LGBTQ themes into your classroom?
Unfortunately, I don’t live in one of the handful of states that have mandated that LGBTQ+ topics be part of school curriculum. Like in all states, I am required to provide instruction based on state-approved standards. Since I teach language arts, I can use almost any book to teach to those standards, however. For instance, if we’re learning about sequence of events or transitions, I can pull out my book STONEWALL: A BUILDING. AN UPRISING. A REVOLUTION. and use portions of the story to illustrate what we’re learning about. If we’ve used a text about the Civil Rights Movement in Social Studies, I can lead students to compare and contrast texts using PRIDE or another book that is about the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, migrant farm worker rights, and so on. In other words, I find opportunities to bring in texts that give a larger worldview. Of course, books also help students see themselves and their families on the page and also helps them to grow in appreciate of those who are different than them and/or their families.
I am a teacher who happens to be gay. It’s positive for administrators, teachers, parents, and students to see and know that. So, I’m out at school, I have a Pride Flag displayed on top of the shelf in my classroom, and I proudly feature the books I’ve authored in my class library. Little things matter when it comes to changing the world.
Did you always know you wanted to be an author? What made you choose to write children’s books?
I was a creative kid who loved the arts and who loved to read and write. I paid my way through college and grad school by writing religious education curriculum materials. Soon after earning my masters, I was working for the publishing company I once wrote for. So, writing has long been part of my life. I was outed and fired from that religious publisher after 15 years of employment and wound up moving to Florida and falling back on my education degrees. Some of my elementary students actually encouraged me to pursue my dream of writing children’s books. That was eleven years ago and by the end of this year I will have published twelve picture books (fiction and nonfiction) with some of the most-respected publishers in the country.
Why, children’s books? Because I’ve been working with kids as a volunteer or in my professional life since I was in high school. I love kids. I know how to teach them. And I know how to package information in interesting ways for them. Writing for kids comes naturally to me, but I have to admit it never gets easier to come up with a great idea or to see a manuscript get published.
Can you tell me more about the inspiration behind your book Peaceful Fights for Equal Rights?
Thanks for asking about that book. PEACEFUL FIGHTS FOR EQUAL RIGHTS is a lyrical listing of ways people have peacefully protested. (And if you look closely, you’ll also realize it’s an ABC book—the list is arranged alphabetically.) I had been researching American history, immigration, and several other topics for over a year and had written a very complex manuscript about what I’d learned. Try as I might, that manuscript never sold to a publisher. One day, I was looking through my research which included information about peacefully protesting. I began to play with how to arrange the words and concepts I’d researched and landed on an energetic, almost chant-like structure. I sent it off to my agent, who sent it off to an editor, who bought the manuscript the day he saw it. To date, it’s one of my favorite books.
What keeps you hopeful during these tumultuous times?
I work with students every day. They keep me hopeful. They have passion. They despise anything that’s unfair. That are incensed by injustice. I have hope that these passionate feelings will stay with them as they grow up. I think they may be able to continue the long struggle of the LGBTQ+ community and other marginalized groups. I also have hope that members of our community will keep working together to create a better world for the students I teach.
When I first wrote the manuscript of PRIDE: THE STORY OF HARVEY MILK AND RAINBOW FLAG I considered it a book of celebration. After the presidential elections in 2016, I knew it would be a book of necessity. So, I also have hope that my writing can make a difference. If we don’t tell our story, who will? If we don’t celebrate our uniqueness, who will? If we don’t name our heroes and role models, who will? I have hope.
Books Released by Rob Sanders in 2019
Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution. (Random House)
Ball & Ball (Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster)
Books Coming in 2020 by Rob Sanders
The Fighting Infantryman: The Story of Albert D.J. Cashier, Transgender Civil War Solider (Little Bee Books)
Mayor Pete: The Story of Pete Buttigieg (Henry Holt & Co.)
Bling Blaine: Throw Glitter, Not Shade (Sterling)
