Building on the success of their first picture book for and about children with same-sex parents, Rainbow Families Croatia (Dugine obitelji) is crowdfunding a second book that they hope to provide free to “every interested person, family, and organization.”
The first book for LGBTQ families in all of Eastern Europe was the organization’s 2018 My Rainbow Families, by authors Ive Šegote and Maje Škvorc and illustrator Borne Nikole Žeželja. It told the stories of Ana, who has two dads, and Roko, who has two moms—and flew off the shelves. The organization has distributed more than 1000 free copies so far.
Now, Ana and Roko’s stories continue in My Rainbow Family’s Fun Day Out, written by Daniel Martinovic, one of the coordinators of Rainbow Families Croatia, and illustrated by Martin Hrastic. In this sequel, the children travel with their parents to a museum and a nature park, where “New places inspire Ana and Roko to think of their future and what they want to become when they grow up,” and “they share their experiences and dreams with a couple of new characters.”
The organization has exceeded its initial fundraising goal to create a hardback picture book in Croatian and English, so now they are trying to raise enough to produce a coloring book and visual audiobook as well, and to get the materials—free—into the hands of even more families.
Their first book was burned by anti-LGBTQ protesters at a festival in Kastela, Croatia, shortly after its publication. LGBTQ-rights groups filed a criminal complaint and Croatia’s education minister and ombudsman for children condemned the action. Clearly, the protest hasn’t stopped Rainbow Families Croatia.
Here in the U.S., the number of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books has skyrocketed in the past few years (though we still need more)—but the same isn’t true around the world. LGBTQ families are everywhere, though, and our children and their peers can always benefit from books showing positive images of our families. Kudos to Rainbow Families Croatia for all the work they do to support LGBTQ families and to educate others in Croatia about them.
Listen to members of Rainbow Families Croatia speak personally about the book in the video below. (It’s in Croatian, but there are English subtitles.)