Welcome to the Crowdsourcing Mornings segment! Every weekday morning, Geek Alabama talks about and features one crowdsourcing project from crowdsourcing sites such as, Indiegogo, and others. The hope with Crowdsourcing Mornings is to feature and help a project be successful and reach its fundraising goal. Please enjoy today’s featured project!
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Five years ago, I wrote and illustrated a little book about two penguins who bake and deliver wedding cakes to LGBTQ couples. Pringle and Finn, based on me and my husband, Matthew, became my first self-published book because of the power of community support right here on Kickstarter. Pringle and Finn has since been published in Germany where it became a #1 Bestseller, and was selected by Norway to be distributed in over 1,500 Norwegian libraries. It’s also the subject of a brand new stage musical, with Tony nominee Grey Henson in the role of Pringle.
Then came the sequel, The Secret Ingredient, in which our lovable cake-baking duo adopt an egg and become dads. Once again, Kickstarter paved the way to self-publishing and The Secret Ingredient soon became our biggest seller.
Now I’m back to complete my inclusive-cake-trilogy!
The Day We Became a Family is the third and final book in the Pringle & Finn “cake” series. In Book 1, our penguins delivered wedding cake. In Book 2, they delivered birthday cakes. And now, Pringle, Finn, and their daughter are delivering anniversary cakes to my most inclusive cast of characters yet.
Alongside families with two moms and two dads, you’ll meet blended families, found families, surrogate mothers and children of surrogacy, foster families, single parents, and a heartwarming adoption story that ties the whole book together.
Like every Pringle and Finn story, it’s bursting with whimsy, humorous details, memorable characters, and a message that weaves itself in subtly without becoming a “lesson story”. After all, kids want to be entertained, and the most effective picture books are the ones children want to read again and again.
I believe every kid deserves to open a book and see themselves in it.
As a gay, disabled person, I know all too well how much it hurts not to find yourself in the stories you grow up with.
My books aren’t about pushing an agenda, they’re about allowing inclusivity to exist without making it the whole point. I believe this is the truest representation of real life. And when kids are shown that diversity is just a part of life, they grow up with more compassion, empathy, acceptance, and understanding.
And I think we can all agree, the world could use more of that.
As of September 30th, this project has raised $31,700 of their $10,000 goal. This project has 21 days left to raise as much as it can. For a pledge of $19, you will get one book. For a pledge of $49, you will get one book and plushie. To learn more and to pledge money, go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/paulcastlestudio/the-day-we-became-a-family?
