Forest Hills Mom Writes Children's Book To Empower Little Girls

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS -- Sharita Manickam wanted to make sure her daughter grew up knowing she could be anything, so the Forest Hills mom wrote a poem telling her to do just that.

Five-and-a-half years later, that poem is on its way to becoming a children's book "empowering little girls to dream big" about their future careers. It's backed by more than $18,000 in donations from others who want to ensure the next generation of daughters grows up just as empowered.

"Rad Girl Revolution" is slated to be published this November in hardcover for kids ages 3-7. Inside will be photos of 50 Queens girls transformed into presidents, scientists, doctors, CEOS and other male-dominated careers - an idea that first came to Manickam when her daughter was first born.

"I was just imagining as a new mother all the new possibilities of what this little baby could grow up to be," Manickam told Patch.

It wasn't until the 2016 Presidential election, though, that Manickam partnered up with fellow Forest Hills mom Jen Bruno to turn her poem into something more.

"We were seeing so many kids in the neighborhood who were surprised by the idea that there could be a female president," Bruno, the book's illustrator, told Patch. "We didn’t realize how few children knew that was a possibility for women."

On April 5, the pair launched a crowdfunding campaign for the book on Kickstarter titled, "The Children's Book for Little Girls Who Dream BIG!" They reached their $15,000 goal in just week, and after less than a month have raised nearly $19,000 from more than 500 donors.

"We knew there was a need for something like this, but we didn't realize quite how big it was," Bruno said.

Manickam said a lot of the donations have come from other women who've told her they wished they had a book like hers growing up.

"We've gotten a lot of support from the local community," she said. "We heard a lot of stories from women who wanted to pursue certain (male-dominated) careers but were told not to."

The two moms have already started shooting photos for the book. They planted little girls into "workplaces" of presidents, scientists, judges, astronaut, doctors, pilots, journalists, directors, chefs, authors, CEOS - you name it - to be accompanied by rhyming verses describing each career.

"We don't want our message getting muddled in the fantasy of typical picture book illustrations," the pair wrote in their Kickstarter campaign. "We are showing young girls career opportunities they may not otherwise know exist, and we believe photos of real girls help further drive home the reality."

The book will feature photos of 30 different jobs to be shot over the next four months, Bruno said. Manickam's five-year-old daughter will be featured on its pages along with other mini-models the moms found through word of mouth from local parents.

The moms are making one last push for donations before their Kickstarter campaign ends on May 8. The two are trying to reach $20,000 to donate 100 copies of their book to The Pajama Program, which provides books an pajamas to children in need.

"We obviously are very passionate about gender equality, and we want to make sure these (career) barriers aren't still around for the next generation of children," Bruno said.

(Lead photos courtesy of Jen Bruno/Rad Girl Revolution)