A nonfiction picture book about Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride, who dreamed of making a difference as a kid and became the highest-ranking openly transgender political official in America.

What inspired you to write/illustrate Door by Door? 

MP: It began with reading Sarah’s coming out story in our college alumni magazine in 2012. I was so moved by it and realized that, while I’d been working for gay rights for 20+ years, as a cis woman, I really didn’t know much about trans rights or trans experiences. So, her story inspired me to dive in, learn, and better understand trans lives, struggles, and history. This then made a huge impact on my own life when a very close loved one came to me for support around their gender identity.

As I had the honor of walking alongside my trans loved one on their transition journey, and getting involved in the trans advocacy community, I kept thinking back to Sarah’s story. As a children’s book author, I knew hers was an important story that kids could relate to, and I approached her about writing it – before she became a senator, actually! – and she was so gracious and enthusiastic. Five years later, we have Door by Door.

MMG: I knew I wanted to illustrate Meeg Pincus’s manuscript about Senator Sarah McBride as soon as I read it. I love how Meeg wrote about Sarah’s journey growing up. It’s touching to see the way she grew into her leadership roles, fully embraced her gender identity, and eventually shared her true self with her loved ones. Senator McBride is such an inspiring, well-spoken, and graceful person so it’s been neat to illustrate a story about her life. And I will say that as a non-binary kid growing up in the 80s and 90s, I didn’t have the privilege of reading about gender diverse people who did great things. I’m delighted I get to be part of a team that created such an important book.

What was the most difficult part about writing/illustrating the book? What part was the easiest? 

MP: I think the most difficult part was trying to do justice to Sarah’s story, wanting to get it right for her and reflect her authentically and fully – in just 40 pages! (That’s always the trick with picture book biographies but especially with a living subject.) Luckily, she was so generous with her time and feedback, which helped tremendously in making sure I was on track (and I wouldn’t have done it without her participation!).

The easiest part was working with Sarah, the amazing editor, Kelly Delaney, and fabulous illustrator, Meridth McKean Gimbel. We all just clicked and were so passionate about the project and our shared vision for it, the process was just a joyful collaboration.

MMG: Many trans people feel discomfort or even trauma when looking at images of themselves before they transition. I wanted to be mindful of that, and still create illustrations that felt true to who Sarah has always been as a person. We were very fortunate to have her review all the art created for this story. Because of the personal nature of Senator McBride’s journey of embracing her gender identity, we could not have done this book without her feedback. She was really generous with her time and an integral part of helping us create a respectful representation of her life.

I think the easiest part of illustrating this story was choosing the color palette. This is a pride book about a politician. The colors were pretty much set from the get-go. I had fun placing trans and pride colors throughout the book. And I am happy that the endpages have been received as I intended. The opening pages, with their blue and grey doors closed, symbolizing how the world saw Sarah before she came out, and how restricting that was to her. After we read how she embraced her identity, and excelled in politics, we see the closing endpages with rainbow-colored doors. Sarah’s blue door has been opened, and a triumphant trans wave of colors sparkles through the doorway.

What character or element of the story do you identify with the most and why?

MP: My heart just aches for, and relates to, Sarah’s journey of being “different” from the dominant culture and unsure if she could be fully herself and still pursue her dreams to make an impact.

I have multiple ways I’m “different” myself and I still grapple with embracing all the parts of me fully, the worries of being accepted and included, while also feeling called to be out there making positive change in a sometimes-cruel world. It’s this human, emotional struggle that’s at the heart of the story, and that I think kids will understand innately as well.

MMG: I feel a strong connection with Senator McBride’s journey of getting to know herself and embracing her gender identity. I grew up in a conservative environment that often categorized gender in a way that gave me extreme discomfort or anxiety. I too have a clear memory of boys and girls being put into separate lines, in my gym class, and me not wanting to line up on either side. I felt like I belonged to both groups and that didn’t belong to either. We didn’t have the term non-binary when I was a kid, so I grew up feeling like I was the only one who felt alienated and detached from the gender assigned to me. As an adult, I read books about trans and non-binary folks. I realized that these books were describing me. Once I had the terminology, the pronouns that better reflected my identity, and the support I needed, I felt at home. It took me longer than it should have to find peace within myself. That process all started with a book, which is why I feel that books, like this one, are so important.

What do you want kids today to take away from this story?

 MP: I hope kids will take away validation for who they are, compassion and understanding for others who may be different from them, and as Sarah says in her note in the book, the belief that their story matters – that everyone’s story matters, and if we listen to each other, we can create a more safe, healthy, and equal world.

 MMG: Growing up we’ve all struggled to be seen and valued for our true selves. I hope the kids reading this story will be empowered to embrace themselves for who they are and see that when they live their lives as their authentic selves, they can dream big, and accomplish big things. And specifically, to the queer and trans kids that see themselves in this book, I hope they feel loved and celebrated.

What are you currently reading?

MP: I just started reading Daniel Nayeri’s Everything Sad is Untrue. And I stopped short at this line, which just says everything for me: “If you listen, I’ll tell you a story. We can know and be known to each other, and then we’re not enemies anymore.”

 MMG: I always have a big stack of books, and I bounce back and forth between them. Here are a few books I’m currently reading; Black Beach by Shaunna and John Stith and illustrated by Maribel Lechuga, Baby’s Here!written by Jessica Young and illustrated by Genevieve Godbout, Maribel’s Year written by Michelle Sterling and illustrated by Sarah Gonzalez, The Beautiful Something Else by Ash Van Otterloo, Thisby Thestoop and the Wretched Scrattle by Zac Gorman, Ducks by Kate Beaton, and The Tunnels by Greg Mitchell.

The Fresh Voices series is in coordination with the RHCB DEI Book Club Committee.

It’s Not Bragging if It’s True shares your personal journey of setting and achieving several goals in your life so far. Who is someone who inspired and inspires you to go after your dreams.

Someone who inspires me to go after my dreams is definitely Mae Jemison. Mae Jemison was an engineer and physician, who became the first African-American woman to travel to outer space in 1992 aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. When I was a little girl, my dad bought me a little kids book called Mae Among The Stars about her and I’ve been hooked ever since. I’ve always been impressed by how she pushed forward through massive amounts of adversity and kicked the doors down to rooms nobody wanted her in. And when she got there, she showed up and showed out! (get it?)… Okay, so maybe it is a dad joke. Show up and show out is the name of a chapter of It’s Not Bragging if It’s true.

In Words of Wonder from Z to A, you share 26 inspirational words, one for each of the 26 letters in the alphabet. Do you have a favorite word in the book, and what is its meaning to you?

My favorite word in the book is probably DREAM. I love that word because there’s a line that goes, “Dream is a little kid in front of that giant bookshelf in the living room looking with wonder at all those big colorful books” and that line was written straight from the heart because one of my most vivid childhood memories is standing in front of the seemingly gigantic bookshelf in my living room filled with all kinds of books from my parent’s hefty college textbooks, to books like Catch-22, and a Sidney Poitier’s autobiography. I definitely think that the sheer amount of books my family had just lying around and the diversity of those books definitely contributed to me being very well-read.

You have such a love for words, storytelling, and spelling, do you also love reading? What book helped you love reading?

Yes, I do love to read. I’ve actually read well over 1,000 books. Two books I vividly remember loving as a young girl are Under The Sunday tree by Eloise Greenfield and of course Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise. Those and of course anything that involved Paddington the Bear, although those books were more laughed through than read through.

You are truly a multi-talented powerhouse! Is there anything that you are afraid of trying?

ABSOLUTELY NOT! I would try just about anything except get within 100 feet of a spider web or within 1 mile of a snake. Other than that, I would do anything. I definitely want to one day participate in activities such as bungee jumping, ziplining, hangliding, cave exploring, etc.

What’s something about you that people might be surprised to learn?

I have noticed a lot of people are surprised about is my height. I guess because of my baby-ish voice, people think that I’m going to be like 4’9 or something. So there’s often a visceral reaction once they realize I am taller. I am a little over 5’8.

If you could invite any three people for dinner, who would you invite?

Just 3? Well, for sure I would invite Whitney Houston, my favorite singer, Mae Jemison, one of my sheroes, and Serena and Venus Williams (They come together as one person for the purposes of this article)

If It’s Not Bragging if It’s True is turned into a movie, who would you want to play you?

I would like either Saniyya Sidney or Demi Singleton to play me in a movie. They play Serena and Venus Williams in the movie King Richard, one of my favorite movies.

What was your biggest technical challenge with Standing in the Need of Prayer?

One of my biggest challenges was the price of gas. I drove to every bookstore I could find in Atlanta. Then I searched the internet. My online research was so intense that between the hours of 2 and 6 pm I became a virtual librarian. Typing away, searching for images of coats, hats, etc. for each time period was a challenge.  Most of the stories that I’ve worked on deal with one time period. Carole didn’t stick to the script. Standing in the Need of Prayer spans from the 1600s to present day. In my research, I was not only astonished, but mentally challenged by the Clotilda. This slave ship arrived in Mobile Bay in 1859 or 1860 in secrecy. It was hidden then burned to hide the evidence of her ship log, which was human cargo. The Clotilda arrived nearly 60 years after Congress passed the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves. This act took effected in 1808. Slave traders still had the audacity to continue importing humans into the life, then death, sentence of slavery.

What’s chilling is that I live one state away, just hours from this atrocity, in the state of Georgia. The transatlantic slave trade and the results of its atrocious greed was and still is devastating.  Here’s one point: I was watching a documentary about Pompeii the other day. I heard about their marvelous aqueducts. I learned they had the equivalent of what we would consider fast food restaurants, believe it or not. I saw their mansions, bathhouses, wine jugs.  I can even tell you about their graffiti. Scientists found out what the citizens of Pompeii were doing almost down to the last hour before the volcano exploded. Yet I know nothing about the day my ancestors were stolen, then sold from Africa. I wonder if it rained that day.

Greatest emotional challenge? 

When Rodney King went through his horrifying ordeal, the conversation throughout the barbershops and hair salons, quietly spoken in church, then spread amongst neighbors, neighborhoods, family and friends was, that’s just the one we saw. See, that kind of brutality is and has been going on unseen and unfilmed for years.  That being said, I can’t help to think we’re only looking at a fraction of the brutality during slavery.  I would bet you that all the horrific photos that we see now would only equate to maybe one day in one slave state town, out of the 400 years, 146,000 days — not including Juneteenth — of slavery. Mind you, there are no photos of the final results of Nat Turner’s Rebellion in 1831.

When I ran out of bookstores in Atlanta, I took a trip with my family to do more research. We went to New Orleans. I’ve been there numerous times. Until this book I never thought about ever going to see a plantation. This time I had to. We had to.

The African American man who was our bus driver/tour guide was cheerful, playful the whole ride going.

He told us some good places to eat, talked about the crocodiles, swamps. He told us he’ll laugh and joke with us now because the trip back will be different. I thought to myself, yeah, okay. When we drove by our first plantation house, he told us that it was used in a movie.  It was pushed so far back from the street we really didn’t get a chance to see it well. It seemed surreal. Not too far up the road was our stop. One by one we filed out of the bus. I don’t want to give away too much to anyone that may not have seen or been on the tour. I will say just two words: life changing.

It pulls, it tears, it hurts. These historical stories of injustice, hate, and cruelty are painful. I’m honestly attempting to do my minuscule fraction of a part to pay homage to the millions that couldn’t tell their own stories. On behalf of all African Americans that are the beneficiaries of what they endured, so we can be here today, is thank you enough? I’m speechless like the bus ride home from the plantation.

Does prayer work?

Yes

What can picture books do that an art gallery cannot?

Picture books, for me, are documenting society, a society that high end art galleries and museums overlook. Think about this: if it wasn’t for a painting, we wouldn’t know what George Washington looked like. If the constitution wasn’t written down…need I say more? Over the decades, what is considered priceless or of historical significance has its place. When that impression is captured either on film, paper, or canvas, it’s preserved in cherished monuments, such as museums or blue-chip galleries for generations of society to view, respect and appreciate, or it’s consumed by private collections never to be seen again in public.

The African American Diaspora. Living, loving, laughing with family friends. Everyday lifestyles. Black mothers and fathers with their sons and daughters. These are all absent from these sacred sanctuaries. I was at a museum last week and didn’t see the representation of one Black family until I exited through the gift shop. I bought a children’s book on the way out the door.

That’s what I love about picture books. This literary market allows the author and illustrator to represent their culture unfiltered and unadulterated. Yes, there are edits, but not to the culture. Black girls and boys can see themselves and dream through the powerful images portrayed in these mighty stories – images they most likely won’t see in the high art blue-chip art galleries, nor sadly their local museums for now, until they grow up and change that.  I thank the children’s publishing world for being the trailblazers in the arts. Their acknowledgment of not just my culture, but all cultures. They are unapologetically dope.

Who among the people depicted in this book would you most like to have met?

Duke Ellington. The Duke was self-taught, as I am. If I saw him on the busy, bustling, swinging, streets of Harlem in his day I’m sure we both would notice the fire and passion for our arts in our eyes. That burning sensation to enrich and enlighten the high-nosed folk that we are just as good, talented,  sharp, smart, witty and gifted by God as much or even more than any artist with that sheet of paper called a degree in our trades.  I feel like we would not have to speak. We’d just tilt the brim of our hats as we passed each other, though the static friction from that brief encounter would be enough to light up a block of streetlights. Yeah, man, you know what they say, real recognize real.