The picture book will now be accompanied by a colouring book as well.
The Rainbow Families association launched a crowdfunding campaign “My Rainbow Family – a picture book on children with same-sex parents” yesterday, and in just 24 hours it has achieved the two initial goals set by the campaign: to raise funds to print additional thousand copies of the picture book and to raise funds for the printing of the first thousand copies of the “My Rainbow Family” colouring book, reports N1 on February 9, 2018.
The purpose of the picture book is to strengthen the social integration of children with same-sex parents and to promote tolerance and respect for diversity. The picture book is intended for preschool children and contains images of everyday life of two children with same-sex parents.
The crowdfunding campaign was launched after the unexpectedly high interest for the free copies of the picture book which was presented in January. Even before the official presentation of the picture book, the association had received hundreds of inquiries from Croatia and abroad and now wants to provide a copy to every interested individual, family and organisation.
“We believe that in this way we can contribute to the creation of a society in which people will learn to respect diversity and accept all families,” said Daniel Martinović, the coordinator of the association which published the picture book. “Our first goal was to raise 3,000 dollars to print a thousand new copies of the picture book. In just a couple of hours, we passed the goal, which is truly incredible. We are continuously surprised by the amount of support we receive. By the end of the day, we also reached the 5,000 dollar target, which will allow us to print a thousand copies of the colouring book. This is something new which we wanted to offer our children and all those interested in sharing our values.”
The new edition of the picture book is also available in English since the association has received a number of inquiries from abroad. In addition to parents, the interest in the picture book was also shown by libraries. The picture book will be available in libraries in Rijeka, Osijek, Sisak and Zagreb, and the association plans to organise further presentations so that all other libraries which wish so could receive the copies.
“With the next goal of 10,000 dollars, we want to print additional thousand copies of both the picture book and the colouring book,” said the author of the picture book Ivo Šegota. “Our heroes are Ana and Roko. They love everything their peers of preschool age love – sports, playing with friends and socialising with their parents. Still, they differ slightly from their peers – Ana has two dads, and Roko has two moms. And they know that such families are called rainbow families. This picture book is especially useful for children from such families since they can recognise themselves and their daily lives. Additionally, this picture book can help every parent talk with his or her child about family relationships and differences in a society which are part of our reality.”
“If we achieve the third goal, the fourth goal will be to provide us with the funds to issue new picture books. We want Roko, Ana, their friends and their families to experience many more adventures. Our association has the vision of a society which respects, embraces and celebrates all the families, and this publishing venture is just one of the activities we plan to use to achieve this. We are very pleasantly surprised by the amount of support, and we are happy to see that our fellow citizens have recognised our values and supported us through this campaign,” said Martinović.
The Rainbow Family association was founded in 2017, after a period in which it operated as an informal civic initiative.
Translated from N1.
