Creator of the project, Dublin dad Gavin Leonard, is “totally overwhelmed” by the unbelievable support from the local and global parenting community Not Just a Princess announced last year that it would launch six inclusive books aimed at empowering young girls. The Kickstarter campaign to fund the books will run for another 33 days but much to the delight of creator Gavin the project was backed in less than a day. Gavin said: “This is the dream start to the Kickstarter campaign – we are so overwhelmed with the way people have responded to this idea and to the Not Just a Princess ethos over the last 12 months. The fact that we have reached our goal already means that parents will be reading our stories, with such strong, capable female role models, to their little girls and boys by the Summer; it is a dream come true.” The project has been backed by over 170 people who have pledged funding of more than €6,800 – almost double the target.
There is still another 4 weeks of the campaign remaining and Gavin hopes to raise more than €20,000 to ensure that the Not Just a Princess ethos is felt around the world. Tallaght man Gavin, who started his blog in July 2017, developed the concept for Not Just a Princess after searching for empowering stories to read to his 2-year-old daughter, Jade. What he found was limited and so he decided to create his own army of princesses for his daughter. Each princess has a unique set of skills and, along with her animal sidekick, helps people to solve problems in the fictional land of ‘Wonderville’. After an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign in 2018 Gavin was more determined than ever to bring Not Just a Princess to the world and relaunched the campaign on March 26th, 2019.
Gavin said: “At Not Just a Princess we want to break down the gender barriers that face our daughters, nieces and granddaughters in nearly every walk of life. We want all girls to see themselves represented in the strong female role models that we have created in our book series. The fact that so many people from right across the globe are behind this project means so much to us and tells us that we are doing something right!” Not Just a Princess is live on Kickstarter now. To view rewards, back the project or buy the books search ‘Not Just a Princess’ on Kickstarter.com.
