Bravery Magazine battles princess culture with quarterly mag for kids

There’s no technology angle to Bravery Magazine beyond the fact that it’s raising money on crowdfunding website Kickstarter, but it’s a project that I think many parents will love.

What is it? A quarterly magazine for children that will focus on “strong female role models” with a mixture of stories, educational activities and art. Its San Francisco-based creators are trying to raise $27,000 to get the project up and running, and with 26 days to go in their crowdfunding campaign, already have pledges of more than $23,500.

Each issue of the magazine will focus on a different woman and a trait that she embodies, with a target readership of girls and boys aged 4–9 years old. “Bravery will serve as a resource parents can use to help teach their girls and boys about real, brave women who have done real, brave things,” explain the creators.

“As parents living in a society of princess culture and male-dominated children’s books, we were frustrated by the lack of resources available to teach our children about brave, smart women who did hard things. We wanted to provide other options for our kids besides princess dresses and fairy wands. We wanted to introduce them to strong female role models — REAL women who have done real, brave things.”

The first issue will focus on primatologist Jane Goodall, known for her pioneering research with chimpanzees, as well as her wider conservation and animal-welfare work. Bravery Magazine will publish that issue in October 2017 before getting to work on the next three.

You can pledge $18 to get a copy of the first issue, while $25 gets you a ‘starter pack’ with a collector card and embroidered Bravery patch, and $35 gets you a ‘complete pack’ with those plus an art print. You can also pledge $68 for an early-bird subscription to get all four issues in the first year, with higher tiers offering more rewards.

I like the fact that Bravery Magazine is aimed at both girls and boys. My eight year-old niece would love it, I’m sure, but I think my sons would also enjoy the magazine – and learning about strong female role models can only be a good thing for them.

It looks like Bravery Magazine is going to surpass its target, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops – not least who’ll be the women chosen for its second, third and fourth issues.

Check out its Kickstarter here and see what you think.