"A long-legged stork once went for a walk, and a baby he found who slept without sound. Shhhh"
(Excerpt from book)

The Long-legged Stork Finds a Family is a children's picture book aimed at spreading the word about family diversity! Join the long-legged stork on an adventure to find the perfect family for a baby he finds.

I wouldn't want to give away the ending to the story - but the book will highlight to every child who reads it, that their family structure is PERFECT - whether that be a mum & dad, two mums, two dads, single parents - or any other family structure you can think of!


*Image below: The long-legged stork has found a baby and is pondering what to do next. He doesn't see the puddle in front of him though...


My project aims to get this book published - so that I can continue to spread the word about equality and acceptance, and to teach children and parents that your family doesn't have to conform to a particular structure to be just right for you.


*Image below: The long-legged stork is walking (actually he's tapping) down the street looking for a family for the baby and discovering all of the different family structures that exist!





My excitement about this book comes from my son Elliott - who stumbled across my pencil illustrations one day and wanted to know what they were. So I asked if he wanted to hear a new story - and proceeded to read him what was then one of the very first drafts. I got through about half of the story, and then ran out of illustrations to show him - he was so upset and almost threw a tantrum because he wanted to see more pictures! This prompted me to finish the illustrations and bring them to life with lots of bright colours. I have since read him the completed story, with coloured illustrations on numerous occasions and he always seems so intrigued by what the stork will do next. I have tried to fill the book with an animated script that young children might enjoy acting out themselves and have used poetic phases to appeal to a younger audience.

Your Family Rewards Party

The risk of not reaching my target is that I will not be able to have my book published and I won't be able to share my story with children and families all over the world. I like to think that my books are not just fun for children - allowing them to see a book that might resemble their unique situation, but also that they are able to be used as an educational tool throughout schools and other community organisations.

Spreading the word about accepting diversity is what this project is all about!