A good thing comes in a small, rainbow package.
It’s unusual for board books to include backmatter, but this one does, and it provides context for the prior spreads’ loving verse and colorful photographs, arranged in the familiar six-color Pride flag sequence. “Everyone is welcome at Pride! The rainbow flag is a colorful symbol of LGBTQ Pride,” reads this text, which unfortunately fails to credit Gilbert Baker with creating the flag. It also doesn’t acknowledge efforts to include more colors and designs to mark efforts to make the LGBTQ+ movement more inclusive in terms of racial and gender diversity. But, here’s what this board book does very, very well: It sends a message of unconditional love to the implied child audience, and it affirms familial and racial diversity. Each color has two spreads. The first introduces the hue with a line of text and is accompanied by a stock photo of a child that somehow highlights that color. The second spread in each pair then shifts to directly address both the depicted child and child readers. For example, “YELLOW SUNSHINE, smiles so bright” introduces yellow with a grinning, light-skinned child wearing a yellow jacket. The next spread reads, “I’ll hug you, kiss you, hold you tight,” and shows a baby snuggled by people who read as two moms.
A joyful, affirming, pride-filled read.
(Board book. 6 mos.-4)