Robin Stevenson began writing while on maternity leave, soon after her son was born. Having always been a vocal LGBTQ+ supporter, she noticed how few books there were for younger kids with queer content that they could read together.
In less than two decades, Stevenson wrote more than 30 books of fiction and non-fiction, including for young readers. Pride Puppy, published in 2021, grew out of a desire for picture books that showed families like hers. A rhyming alphabet book, it tells the story of a family celebrating Pride Day when their puppy gets lost in the parade and members of the crowd help them find the pooch.
Now it’s one of the books included in a case that the Supreme Court will hear April 22, about whether a Maryland school district must provide parents who object to LGBTQ+ books on religious grounds with an option to take their children out of lessons involving them.
In an interview with PEN America, Stevenson shared her thoughts on the case, the messages books like hers send to the world, and what she would say to parents proposing the opt-out.
What was the impetus for writing Pride Puppy?
Pride Puppy grew from my experiences as a parent, going to Pride every year with my partner and child, my parents, and other family members and friends. It was a joyful and welcoming and inclusive celebration, and in my community, there were always many families out watching the parade, or marching in it, or attending Pride Day festivals in the park. It was hard to find picture books that showed families like mine and like those of many of the LGBTQ+ parents in my community. I thought our kids deserved to see their families on the pages of the books they read. I wanted to write an alphabet book that told a story, and I love dogs, and all of those elements came together in Pride Puppy.
What have readers – young and old – told you about what your book meant to them?
I have received so many messages from parents about how much it has meant to them and their kids to read a joyful, loving book that includes people who look like those in their own family and community, and from teachers who find this book helpful in making sure their classroom bookshelves represent all the families in their school community.
Did you have books like this when you were young or your children were young? What would it have meant to have books like this?
I did not have any books about LGBTQ+ people when I was a child or young teen. Years later, when I became a parent, I found it very difficult to find books that showed families that looked like our family. My picture books are the kind of books I wished I had when I became a parent, and they are books that I wrote with other parents and children in mind. All kids deserve to see families like their own in the books they read and all kids deserve to learn about the diversity of their classmates’ families too!
What does it say to you when someone says LGBTQ+ content violates their religious beliefs?
Within every religion, there are LGBTQ+ people, and within every religion, there are people working to create supportive and inclusive communities. All young people deserve communities where they feel welcome, and all young people should be able to learn about the diverse world they live in.
What have you personally experienced during this wave of book bans and having your book cited in this case?
My picture book has been widely misrepresented in the media in ways intended to stir up fear and provoke outrage among more conservative audiences. The publicity about this case has led to many hateful and sometimes threatening messages on social media and email. These vile and abusive messages have shown clearly that book bans are not just about religious views or parental concern about what their kids are reading—they are also fueled by dangerous hatred and bigotry.
If they were listening, what would you say to people who don’t want their children to read this book or want to make these books part of an opt-out policy?
All our children, regardless of their family’s religious faith or views, and regardless of their connection to LGBTQ+ community, attend public schools together. Teachers have a responsibility to make sure that they all feel seen and supported and welcome, to help them learn about each other, and to help them get along. There are kids in every school who have two moms or two dads, who have a sibling or aunt or uncle who is gay or trans, or who are themselves part of the LGBGQ+ community. Telling those kids that their families and their identities can’t be talked about in classrooms without advance notice and without other children needing to be excused would be hurtful and harmful. Public schools have a responsibility to create a climate where everyone is included, and diverse books are an important part of that work. It is not reasonable to expect schools to be complicit in hiding the existence of an entire group of people.
Many of the books cited in the case have been badly misrepresented in the media. What would you like people to understand that they might have missed?There has been a deliberate campaign of misrepresentation about these books over the past two years. This includes misleading statements intended to fuel fears and stoke anger, and outright lies, some quite bizarre, about the contents of the books. The reporting about Pride Puppy, for example, has often focused on a word search connected to the alphabet, picking out particular words and images from the hundreds in the book and linking them together to imply salacious content, like saying that the book introduces children to images of leather and zippers. In fact, there is a leather jacket worn by a parent on the L page, and there is a zipper on a kid’s hoodie on the Z page—and both are items of clothing most kids see on a daily basis. The books cited in this case are short picture books that take only a few minutes to read, and I would encourage people to do that rather than forming opinions based on what they have read online.
