Book Review: Pride

May 27, 2026 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

Pride by Eric Huang, with illustrations by Amy Phelps, is a sweet introduction to Pride celebrations aimed at kids ages 5 to 7 (or kindergarten through second grade).

The story is narrated by Brian, a little boy who is getting ready to celebrate Pride with his dads. He and his friends at school are learning about Pride, and their teacher weaves in LGBTQ+ historical figures throughout the year. (he book mentions Freddy Mercury, Alexander the Great, Josephine Baker and Gus Kenworthy. I didn’t know that last one but he’s a British-American freestyle skier.

The kids make posters for Pride in class and kids go to different events such as a Pride event at a museum, a crafting day where they make bracelets and a drag queen story time at the library. As they go through the events different kids decide how they want to dress for Pride, but Brian has a hard time deciding.

His dads tell him: “it doesn’t matter what you wear…what’s important is that you’re at the parade to show your support — and have fun.”

But when they are making colorful flags for the parade Brian is inspired to make outfits that reflect the beautiful rainbow of chosen family that is what Pride is all about.

The illustrations are colorful and inclusive, with lots of skin tones, fashion styles and family structures represented. The message of love and joy comes through as well as the reminder that Pride isn’t just a weekend or even a whole month, but something to celebrate all year.

The back of the book includes factual information about Stonewall (which it calls a protest and an uprising but doesn’t get into the details), other protests for LGBTQIA+ equality (and what the acronym means), the history of Pride and when it is celebrated in different places around the world, information on LGBTQ+ History Month (which is in October) and the history of and meaning behind the Pride flags.

Crafts include making a Pride flag out of construction paper and baking rainbow cookies. There’s even a quiz at the back to test what you’ve learned.

Pride is a great book for kids whose families celebrate Pride or include LGBTQ+ members, or to help answer questions about what Pride is and why it is celebrated. It would be a good one to have at home or in the classroom.

About the book: 48 pages, hardcover. Published 2025 by words & pictures. Suggested retail price $14.99.

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Learning Numbers for Preschoolers

Learning numbers actually involves a few different skills, from recognizing the shape of the number and knowing the word that goes with it to understanding one to one correspondence for counting and what order the numbers go in.

A lot of this is learned best through play and activities that get kids counting and tracing and otherwise interacting with numbers. These activities can help.

I specifically mentioned tracing above because of these number formation rhymes cards from Teaching Mama, which can be used in lots of ways to practice making the shapes of the numbers, including tracing, lining up items on the number shapes (and counting them!), using playdough to shape the numbers and so on. Each number has a little rhyme to help you remember how to make it, which is cute.

And speaking of playdough, you can find lots of playdough number mats with different themes for kids to use as they learn about numbers. Preschool Play and Learn, for example, has these cute apple themed ones that also teach one to one correspondence as you learn the numbers and count to 10.

Or use these tree-themed ones from Live Over Cs to form the numbers, count out items on a ten frame and place the correct number of items in the tree to match the number (do this with playdough, little buttons or whatever manipulatives you have on hand). Your little builders will also love these Duplo number mats from Life Over Cs, which allow you to shape the number out of blocks and count out the number of blocks that corresponds to each number.

I also love these mats from The Savvy Sparrow that include the number and the word you can trace with playdough or marker, showing how to count the number on your fingers, a tens frame and a number line.

Finger plays and counting songs are lots of fun for little ones, too, and Childhood 101 has a great collection of songs and rhymes having to do with numbers (as well as printable song cards you can use with them.

This cardboard roll number chain form Hands On As We Grow would be a fun addition to singing number songs or to use in other play and counting games. And we all love something easy to make with stuff we already have.

Older kids who already know the order of numbers can also use these connect the dot number printables from Fun Learning for Kids. Or use the shapes for playdough mats or to practice tracing even for kids who don’t know all the numbers in order yet.

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