VICTOR, Idaho (BRAIN) –Jannine and Scott Fitzgerald, owners of Fitzgerald’s Bicycles in Idaho’s Teton Valley, have launched a children’s book focused on cycling. The funding window for the “B is for Bicycles” project will be open on Kickstarter.com until December 21.
As retailers for more than 12 years, the Fitzgeralds have seen childhood bicycling rates decline—as much as 43 percent as reported by the National Sporting Goods Association—over the last decade.
The Fitzgeralds’ goal is to help grow childhood participation with their self-published picture book focused on the benefits of the cycling lifestyle, including health, independence, self-confidence and environmental stewardship. The Fitzgeralds said they hope that interest in riding bikes will grow once kids fall in love with the book’s characters, which were inspired by the spirit of their former dogs, as they discover the joys of cycling while riding through the ABCs.
Professional artist Kathleen Hansen was commissioned to illustrate the first four pages of “B is for Bicycles”. The Fitzgeralds will release the text for each letter each day from now until the end of the Kickstarter campaign. Once the project is fully funded, Hansen will illustrate the remaining pages and the book will go to print.
Following the successful publishing of “B is for Bicycles," the Fitzgeralds plan to complete a series of children’s books.
