The day has FINALLY arrived! My kid’s book, “What Makes Me a Boy?” has launched through Kickstarter. Woohoo!
Why This Topic?
The original vision for this book began in Jan. 2022 with Isaac Bell, the talented illustrator of this book and my husband’s cousin. His desire was to create kid’s books for our family that explored hard topics in an easy to understand way (with beautiful visuals of course). I eagerly jumped on board, for it echoed the directive God had breathed into my heart, to communicate God’s truth to all people.
We contemplated many topics, but one quickly rose to prominence…gender dysphoria.
In the Bible, we read that,
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them.” (Gen 1:27, ESV).
We also read,
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” (Psalm 139:13-14, ESV).
God created us with care, loving intention, and beautiful design, including our gender. So why is gender dysphoria on the rise? Especially in our youth? How can we help kids who are struggling with insecurity and rejection, who feel as though they were created wrongly? Our hearts were broken with love for them.
So Isaac and I prayed. For while we do not know the answer to these questions because we do not know the hearts or stories of all of these kids, God does. This is what He said,
“If people understood the true depths of my love for them, how intentionally and perfectly I designed them uniquely to be, they would not suffer from insecurity.”
Have you ever experienced true love? A love so pure, so full of delight in you as you truly are, that even the pieces of yourself that you used to think were ugly, suddenly became beautiful to you?
Imagine if you KNEW your beauty and worth from the beginning. Imagine if you KNEW that the hands that molded you, delighted in every piece of your creation. Imagine if you never doubted the never-ending love of your Creator. A love that caused Him to send His Son to die in your place.
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV).
This was our goal in making this book. Trying with our insignificant efforts, and the Holy Spirit’s significant help, to communicate this love to all kids. Our hope is that kids who are struggling with any insecurity: gender, appearance, personality… will begin to see themselves as God sees them, beautifully and wonderfully made!
Why Kickstarter?
Kickstarter is a pretty awesome tool! It is a crowdfunding site that allows you to raise money for projects that need start-up funds. Our book is fully complete, and in my opinion, fully beautiful. We just need help shouldering the self-publishing cost.
We set a $4000 goal for our Kickstarter that needs to be raised within 30 days for the project to be fulfilled. This goal will cover the costs of starting Bell Publishing LLC, production and shipping costs for 1,000 books, and R&D funds for future projects.
When you support us financially through Kickstarter, you in turn will receive copies of our book! Spend some time looking through each of the “Reward Tiers” to find the one that is right for you, from ordering one book to fifty! You can also choose to donate without receiving any books if you just want to support.
Thank you
I know that this is a controversial topic. Please reach out to me personally if you have any concerns about this book, I would love to talk, and I promise, I will listen with care.
Thank you to everyone who has encouraged us to this point. We have had many barriers to completing this. From a busy life full of pregnancy and parenting, to a cancer diagnosis and treatment for Isaac, I can say with great pride and relief, we are almost done!
Rachel S. Bell, Author 
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