Kids learn about LGBTQ+ history in Rob Sanders’ ‘Queer and Fearless’
Most kids love a parade, whatever the occasion.
But with all of the colorful Pride events going on around the Tampa Bay area this month, some little ones might wonder what the celebration is about.
If your kids ask that question, Rob Sanders is ready to help with “Queer and Fearless: Poems Celebrating the Lives of LGBTQ+ Heroes,” his latest book for readers ages 6 to 9.
Sanders, a Brandon resident and veteran of teaching in Hillsborough County schools, is an accomplished children’s author. “Queer and Fearless” is his 20th book. He writes both fiction and nonfiction, but he’s one of the pioneers of writing nonfiction books for kids about LGBTQ+ history, including books about the stories of the Stonewall Uprising and the AIDS quilt and biographies of Harvey Milk, Bayard Rustin and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
Those events and people appear in this book, too. It’s made up of brief, kid-friendly biographies in the form of poems of 17 politicians and activists who are part of America’s history.
Like any good teacher, Sanders layers together multiple lessons. Each biography is written in a different poetic form, so readers also learn something about quatrains, free verse, abecedarians, found poems and more. The poems also lend themselves to reading out loud.
Each poem is complemented with a prose information block about the subject, and sweetly colorful illustrations by Harry Woodgate tie them all together.
Some of the people Sanders writes about are well known, like Buttigieg, the first openly gay cabinet secretary and Democratic presidential candidate in U.S. history, and Rustin, a civil rights activist who was one of the chief organizers of the 1963 March on Washington and whose life was the subject of an Oscar-nominated movie, “Rustin,” in 2023.
Others may be less familiar figures, but Sanders makes their significance clear. The bios are arranged in historical order, starting with Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, a lesbian couple who in 1955 were among the founders of the Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian social club. In 1956 they founded a magazine, The Ladder, that was the first publication of its kind. As their poem says, “The Ladder gave hope./ Readers learned about themselves./ They were not alone.”
Lyon and Martin also became the first same-sex couple to be married in California — twice.
Another poem tells the story of José Sarria in a series of limericks: “There once was a man who wrote rhymes./ His wordplay was funny at times./ In dresses and heels,/ He made great appeals./ But some thought his actions were crimes.”
Sarria, a World War II veteran and drag performer, ran for a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1961. He lost, but he made his mark as the first openly gay candidate for political office in the U.S.
Other historic figures in the book include Stormé DeLarverie, a jazz singer and drag king who played a key role in the Stonewall riot; Gilbert Baker, designer of the first rainbow flag; Cleve Jones, creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt project; and Pauline Park, an activist for transgender rights.
Despite setbacks and persecution, they’re uplifting stories that will help kids (and maybe some adults) understand what Pride is about.
Queer and Fearless: Poems Celebrating the Lives of LGBTQ+ Heroes
By Rob Sanders, illustrated by Harry Woodgate
Penguin Workshop, 32 pages, $18.99
Meet the author
Tombolo Books presents Rob Sanders in conversation about “Queer and Fearless” with Tampa Bay Times book editor Colette Bancroft, with readings of the poems by St. Petersburg poet laureate Gloria Mu?oz and local poets Tyler Gillespie, Sheree L. Greer, Silk Jazmyne Hindus, Maria Ingrande Mora and Samira Obeid, at 7 p.m. June 25 at Allendale United Methodist Chuch, 3803 Haines Road N., St. Petersburg. Free; RSVP at tombolobooks.com/events.