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Hi! 

We are Celeste and Hannah, and we want to create a board book for babies which is all about playing with their favourite friend - their mirror image! 

Who's that baby in the mirror?

We are first time mums, and from the very early days we noticed our little ones absolutely loved playing with their reflection in the mirror. Now they are almost one and that obsession hasn't stopped, they giggle, smooch, high five and dance with their reflection. 

Anyway...all of this mirror smooching gave us an idea to create a cheeky little book. A book that creates a whole series of playful little friends in the mirror - page after page of cute animal characters with mirror faces that a baby can interact with, anywhere, anytime. Hannah describes it as "snapchat filters in book form", which sums it up pretty well!

We are also also hugely excited to have a very talented children's illustrator, Michelle Carlslund, on board to create the adorable characters in the book. Check out her amazing work here: https://michellecarlslund.com/ 

The illustrations in the 'mock-up' book in the photos are from Michelle's existing portfolio, and more gorgeous illustrations will be created especially for the book!

Mirrors + Baby = True love

Don't take our word for it. Mirrors have been shown to be great for a baby's cognitive and physical development, helping them learn about movement, body parts and facial expressions. Babies don't actually recognise their reflection as themselves until around age two - so a mirror actually provides a perfect on-demand playmate in the early years. If only adults could find such loyal friends that are always there to laugh at their jokes...

Of course there are baby books out there with mirrors in them, but it's usually just one and it's often made of a material that gives a pretty rubbish reflection - the kind of distortion that's fun in a fairground, but not great for learning. This book will have seven fun mirror pages, with mirrors selected to give the best true reflection without being glass. It will also be an all-inclusive kind of book that is race and gender neutral, so that any baby (or adult!) can join in the fun. 

What is this crowdfunding malarkey? Why not just get a publisher?

It's stupidly hard to get a book published the traditional way...especially books for very young children. We could submit the book to publishers, but we would most likely spend years hoping for a reply that would never come. Self-publishing is the 'Uber' of the publishing world - with tools and printers readily available nowadays to make publishing your own book very possible and relatively easy.

Crowdfunding is a essentially a way of sourcing pre-orders for a book and getting some support from both friends and strangers who like your idea and want to see it come to fruition. For all you newbies out there, the three things you need to know about crowdfunding are:

- You can choose a reward or just donate,

- The project won't go ahead unless the funding target is reached (noooooo!),

- The money you pledge won't be collected unless the target is reached.

Why does this project need funding?

Well, largely because of baby drool. 

Since babies love to slobber and chew books, its essential these books are pretty hardy. Board books are made of card and designed to withstand an onslaught of baby loving, so that's what we need. BUT they are difficult to print, and those who are willing to print one require a minimum print run of 1000 copies. The addition of many mirrors makes the book even more complex and then there are shipping and import costs to boot.

Also, to make sure this book is completely adorable and top quality, we've lined up a professional children's illustrator. We are completely privileged to have Michelle on board to illustrate some gorgeous characters for the book.

All of the writing, design and preparation work so far has been self-funded. We are very grateful to our partners who have dedicated much time and patience during the business of parenthood and the other parents who have provided advice and very very cute baby videos! Neither Hannah or I are receiving payment from the crowdfunding, it's purely to cover necessary costs.

While we have researched in detail, we haven't self-published a book before, so there is always the unknown to contend with. The main challenge will be the timeline. It's our ambition to complete illustration and design in September 2018, then print and ship to Australia before middle of November to allow for distribution of the books into your hot little hands before Christmas. We can't absolutely promise Christmas, but we will try our hardest! We will keep everyone up to date on progress and estimated timelines.

The printer has a lot of experience in printing children's books, and we will do a trial run copy at our own expense to make sure everything is in order before we push start on the printing.

Then I guess the ship could sink...so we will buy insurance!