- Description
- Updates
- FAQ
- Comments
- Backers
WE DID IT! Thank you to all who supported!
***Did you miss the campaign? You can still pre-order the book here
About the Book:
The Gender & Infinity Book for Kids is not your average book about gender!
It’s a kid’s guide to embodiment of your fullest self using the stunning and infinite reflection of nature.
The journey begins with a group of kids reveling in the wonder and awe of nature’s infinity seen in plants, animals, sea creatures, the night sky….
….only to be confronted by the two very small gender boxes that all of nature must squeeze into.
Watch as two of the kids remember the pressure to conform to gender stereotypes before finding their own comfort and reflection in nature’s necessary and awesome diversity.
Award-winning illustrator and author, Maya Gonzalez brings their artistic touch to the lush, outdoor environments of fantastic flowers, deep waters, expansive night skies, as well as a menagerie of animals, fish and bugs for 11 of the Pronoun Kids to frolic through.
(can you see the secret message)
Familiar characters (from our other books) explore the very real pressure kids experience to comply to gender roles and how it can impact how they see the world and themselves.
What makes this book different?
Children’s books about gender tend to focus on definitions and understandings of self in relation to whether one matches (or doesn’t) the label assigned to them at birth.
The Gender & Infinity Book for Kids reorients and changes the gender conversation at the root.
Instead of defining in relation to assignments at birth, it provides kids with an understanding of self in relation to the infinite flow of nature. When we have a felt sense of our inherent belonging to a greater story of diversity, we are better equipped to understand and see through the “the boxes” that limit all of us from being our true selves.
The Gender & Infinity Book for Kids is a remedy-based framework. It roots resilience deep in the power of nature, and helps heal the impact of gender pressure and preempt its internalization.
The illustrated story reminds young kids that they are a part of the infinite diversity of all of nature more than they are a definition or a label.
A discussion guide in the back provides facts about body and gender diversity in nature and a holistic approach to gender that deepens the story and experience with each reading.
This shift in focus toward nature first literally provides the largest foundation of support possible. Something profoundly needed through these times of focused, organized and aggressive attacks against our trans, nonbinary and intersex kids.
Watch a Sneak Peek:
a brief snippet of the story with sketches
The Details:
We will be simultaneously releasing a hardcover, paperback, and coloring book of The Gender & Infinity Book for Kids.
The book is approx 44 pages and for ages 3+ (written for the 4-8 age range)
…but even grown-ups can benefit from the experience!
The funds from this campaign will directly support the final art creation, design and production.
Maya Gonzalez is an award-winning children’s book illustrator and author with nearly 3 decades of experience creating children’s books. Maya’s most recent book with Lesléa Newman (author of Heather Has Two Mommies) is set to release in March of this year. Learn more about Maya here.
Maya is also the creator of the Gender Wheel – an entire approach to gender and life that addresses, transforms, and heals binary thinking and gender oppression. Learn more about the Gender Wheel and what makes us different.
Who are We? Maya and Matthew, parents and partners, are the team behind the Gender Wheel. Our books and educational tools are published under the Gender Wheel World imprint of Reflection Press – a POC, queer, and trans owned indie press based in San Francisco. Learn more about us here.
The Gender & Infinity Book for Kids is an integral part to our foundational Gender Wheel materials that cultivate a new planetary mindset in alignment with nature to ignite cascading change.
Learn more about the Rewards!
Learn more about our new rewards below or in the reward descriptions!
Numerous ways to support and snag the book. Even $5 gets you a little something special!
Choose from our multiple reward tiers. Back our project for $20 or more and get a copy of the book.
ADD-ON BOOKS & KITS. Bundle in pronoun books and the Playing with Pronouns card deck OR get Classroom Kits with playmats.
(Learn more about our other Gender Wheel World books & materials here)
PERSONALIZED PORTRAITS! exclusively available during the campaign time, a one-of-a-kind personalized portrait of you or your family in the style of the book by author & illustrator, Maya Gonzalez. (Limited quantity available)
VIDEO SERIES. Get discounted and extended access to our Decolonizing Gender with Nature- Part 1 Video Series at the $55 or the Classroom Kit reward tiers.
JUST ADDED! CUSTOM BLANKETS exclusively available during the campaign time. Check out the imagery and designs:
WATCH THE BOOK COME TO LIFE! ALL Backers get FREE access to our “Inside the Making of…The Gender and Infinity Book for Kids” Video Series. Check out the trailer:
NEW VIDEO every week!
View our FAQs tab above for even more details about the project or send us an email at hello(at)genderwheel.com.
Updates
Update #3 - 3.8.23
New rewards added! Blankets that celebrate gender diversity? Yes, please! There's nothing like wrapping yourself in a cozy blanket. Especially one with imagery that reminds you that you are free to be all of your infinite fabulous self!
We love Spoonflower because we can print imagery from our books on a variety of cloth and make all sorts of fabulous things! AND, we thought why not add some fun, cozy custom blankets as rewards.
Here's the imagery and designs:
We have 3 new reward tiers on the campaign page to choose from. These custom blankets are exclusively available during our crowdfunding campaign so definitely snag one now if it calls to you! Feel free to reach out to us with any questions you have about these new rewards.
Personally we can't wait to order this cloth!
Update #2 - 2.24.23
We're over 50% funded! And we've got a new bonus feature for all supporters. In huge part thanks to your support, Maya has begun the final art for the book. AND, we thought it would be a great opportunity to give folks an inside look at the process.
We've started an "Inside the Making of..." Video series. We'll be posting a new video each week and diving deep into different layers of the book. From the surface layer of how the book is illustrated to the deeper gender expansive messages and the healing frameworks embedded within the imagery and text.
Each video dives into the different layers in three 5 minute sections so you can get updates on the progress and insights into the book without a huge time commitment. Because we all know how busy life can be these days!
Access to the series is provided right after supporting the book!
Check out the trailer for the series on the main campaign page at the bottom!
Update #1 - 2.10.23
Wow, we're already over 30% funded and just one day into our official launch. Thank you thank you! We're headed out to recharge in nature with a hike so we're leaving early bird rewards up for a few more hours until we return. More fun stuff in the works too! Stay tuned.
Project FAQ
Why are we Crowdfunding?
This book has been a dream of ours for some time now. In fact, the text, drawings and even rough proof copy have been completed for over two years now. Unfortunately, the culture of fear created by unprecedented book bans and educational gag orders in relation to gender-inclusive books noticeably impacted our small indie press last year. In fact one of our books, They, She, He easy as ABC, was on the list for The Most Banned Picture Books of the 2021-2022 School Year. To weather the storm, we had to focus our time on immediate recovery at the expense of releasing our new materials. So we're turning to our community to help us take the final step to get this book up and OUT in August this year by opening pre-orders early and offering exclusive rewards.
By crowdfunding through our own site we can access the funds immediately without additional platform fees. This way we don't waste time waiting for funding and instead start instantly putting all the funds to good use creating the final art. It also helps ensure that our book launches on time!
What are the funds for?
The funds are to support the final art creation, scanning, and final design of the book. Because there is nothing like this book out there, we are confident that we'll be able to raise the funds we need and therefore have no trouble delivering the final books in August!
Making the art for a children's book takes a decent amount of focused time, essentially it is the creation of between 16-18 very detailed paintings. When working for a mainstream publisher, illustrators are generally given an "advance" on their royalties (i.e. a large sum of money up-front) in order to carve out the time needed to create the art as well as purchase art materials. By opening pre-orders early and offering additional rewards we can raise the funds similar to an advance. The money raised will also support the time needed to finalize the design files for the printer, review proofs and print the books.
Can you really get the books out by August?
Our record for book idea to final books in hand was 3 months in 2016/2017 with the election. We came up with the idea for the kids book, When a Bully is President: Truth and Creativity for Oppressive Times, as an emergency response the day after the Nov 2016 election and had books out to our community by President's Day in February 2017. So we know how to get books out without sacrificing beauty!
Because we use a Print-On-Demand model and print books within the US, we have a quick turnaround for printing. Additionally, the majority of the book is complete. The biggest hurdle is creating the final art which should take about 3 months. Since we're funding while we keep working there will be no delay in the art creation and therefore August should be plenty of time to polish and refine the final book and release it to the world!
Why Support Us?
- PUSH THE GENDER CONVERSATION FORWARD! Our books and ed tools have been at the forefront of the gender conversation with kids since 2010. Our work pushes the boundaries of gender discussions with ever expanding viewpoints that address and heal systemic oppression. Many of our books have been the first to talk with kids about trans & intersex topics in unconventional & unparalleled ways.
- UPLIFT VOICES FROM THE COMMUNITY. By supporting our books and educational tools you are supporting POC, Queer, & Trans voices and ensuring that we have a say in how our experiences are written and talked about. Supporting books BY the LGBTQIA+ community helps minimize implicit bias often present in books written about our community by those without lived experience.
- INTERRUPT & HEAL GENDER OPPRESSION. Our books and educational tools are deeply rooted in healing frameworks. The Gender Wheel Approach is nature-based, decolonized, and holistic and provides the full context of our culture and healing the impact of oppression. This disperses political overlays from all sides and creates an unshakable foundation to celebrate the reality and necessity of body and gender diversity on a personal, societal and global level.
Do you have experience crowdfunding?
Yes! In 2019 we successfully raised over $7000 in 30 days to fund our Playing with Pronouns educational card deck through Kickstarter (check out the project page here). And, we had no trouble fulfilling all of our backer rewards on time. We chose to switch to our own website to crowdfund for our upcoming books so that we could put the funds to immediate use without additional platform fees.
Do you store my credit card details?
Our website is encrypted using HTTPS, you can see it in your browser bar with the locked icon. This lets you know that communication passed through our website is private and encrypted. Credit card information is NEVER stored on our servers. It is passed directly to the payment processor. We will never have a copy of your credit card information.
Have a question we didn't answer? Feel free to reach out to us directly at hello(at)genderwheel.com!
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edith04/03/2023I sure hope it's not too late!$50.00
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Heather03/31/2023Please let me know about the family portrait details and if you can combine faces from more than one image.$300.00
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Laura03/31/2023You all are the best!$25.00
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Eti03/31/2023$35.00
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Lyn03/31/2023$160.00
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Elizabeth03/31/2023$100.00
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Michelle03/31/2023$55.00
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Monnie Reba03/31/2023$20.00
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Madeline03/31/2023Thank you !!!$55.00
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Madeline03/31/2023Thank you!!!$1.00
