Help children’s publisher Flamingo Rampant produce our next season: 

Six feminist, culturally-diverse, #ownvoices books celebrating LGBT2Q kids, families, and communities.

Introducing: Us!

Hi! We’re Flamingo Rampant, a micropress that makes feminist, culturally-diverse kids books that celebrate LGBT2Q kids, families, and communities. Founded in 2012, we’ve been 100% #ownvoices since before it was even a hashtag. We remain committed to creating beautiful and fun books that kids love to read. Our books show loving, happy, peaceful LGBT2Q kids, families, and communities without bullying or harassment. Kids search for pirates, go to space, create magic, time travel, solve problems, make mistakes, rely on each other, teach, learn, explore – everything that children love to read about, without having to feel shy, bad or “different” about their race, culture, ability, gender, sexuality, or family style. 

You can have a look at our website to see what we’ve made so far! Our books include a lot of rad firsts in children’s literature, including the first book about a Two Spirit kid (written by Two Spirit folks) and the first queer Muslim picture book that we’ve seen anywhere, featuring two gay dads, a nonbinary kid, three adventuresome cousins, one purple moondragon, and one environmental lesson.

We’re making six new books!

The theme of this season is: adventure! In 2021, we’re making six new books – three picture books (PB), and three middle-grade books (MG). 

– Noodin’s Perfect Day (PB), written by Ansley Simpson and illustrated by Rhael McGregor. Noodin, a nonbinary urban Indigenous kid, doesn’t have the day they planned with a book and Ninaatig (a maple tree) – but they have a lot of fun anyway! 

– The Magic Shell (PB), written by Jillian Christmas and illustrated by Diana G. A. Mungaray. When Pigeon Pea asks one question too many, her auntie gives her a magic cowrie shell that lets her time travel back and meet her ancestors, including some pre-colonial gender transcenders.

– The Light Of You (PB), written by Trystan Reese and Biff Chaplow, illustrated by Van Binfa. A family-building story featuring adoption and a seahorse papa (a trans man birth parent), told through a poem – with space for you to add your own family stanzas!

– It’s A Hit! (MG), written by Arin Cole Barth and Marika Barth. A story of baseball and friendship, where a nerdy, newly-out trans boy and the super-jock son of two queer parents form a lasting friendship.

–Metatron’s Children (MG), written by Chy Ryan Spain and illustrator TBD. An Afro-Futurist tale set in a dystopian future, in which two Black, nonbinary children unlock a secret that might just save the world.

– Puberty: Pick Your Path! (MG) written by Dr. Sydney Tam, MD, CCFP and Rakiyah Jones, DNP, FNP-BC, illustrated by Bishakh Som and kd diamond. This groundbreaking book introduces young people to the process of puberty, allowing any kid to learn about the changes that may come. The book describes many options for trans and nonbinary kids to explore – for the first time ever – possible routes and options through puberty and into adulthood, with age-appropriate illustrations and diagrams throughout. Kids can feel a sense of agency about their puberty experience, learn about their friends’ experiences, and explore differences as well as commonalities – everyone makes a stop at Body Hair Station.

In addition to buying books, your support of Flamingo Rampant lifts up our underlying mission – to show children that any kid can be the hero of any story. In a world where we’re trying to seed a better future for ourselves, giving kids the gift of possibility models that look like them and get to do every possible cool thing, rather than just be just being sad or downtrodden, isn’t just a gift to the people who read the books – it’s also a gift to the world. 

 Follow the money.

US$92,000 (CAN$120,000) is a lot of money! Where does it go?

Creative costs (writers, illustrators, and our amazing book designer): $23,000

Printing costs: $45,000 (for color printing at a union shop in the US, rather than offshore)

Postage costs: $11,000 (doing our bit for the USPS!)

Logistics (storage and transportation): $4,000 

Kickstarter fees and bank fees: ~$9,000

Our support of others (a pretty pie chart showing our donations since last season)

(Please note that titles and even entire subjects could change. We absolutely promise and pinky swear that you’ll get six books, and that they will be delicious and nutritious, but sometimes things happen and artistic projects take a surprising turn! This is what we’re planning for, but anything can happen. See? Adventure!)