One of the things I love most about being a parent is being asked questions that make me think about the world in a new way. Why, my toddler daughter wants to know, don’t we have dessert after breakfast? And why there is a moon? And where the people we can see from the bus window are going? In my household we call in ‘Whying’. I am quite convincing on the first of these questions, and can make a stab at the second. And for the third, about the people on the bus, I make up answers and that does the trick. But when it comes to her questions about political life, I always tell her the truth. She may only be two but when she sees the Prime Minister on television and asks who he is and why he has that job or when she sees the houses being built at the end of our road or when we’ve had to wait several hours at A&E, I explain things to her as honestly and openly as I can. My hope is that as she grows up, having opinions and thinking of solutions and developing her own ideology and trying to find a political party that aligns with this seem a natural thing to do.

It is this, and her trip to the polling booth with me in her first year where she almost wrestled my pencil away and tried to ruin my ballot paper, that inspired me to come up with a children’s picture book explaining elections, and the democratic process, to pre-school children. This will be published as one of the first offerings from my new children’s publishing venture, Fisherton Press. We’ll be publishing books for children that adults also enjoy reading, a must when you are reading it for the hundredth time.  The story focusses on two families who vote for, and campaign for, opposing political parties, but who remain friends. It doesn’t sugar coat elections –  it shows a winner and a loser, and a sense of despondency for the family who campaign for the losing party – but it also gets across the ideas of participation, activism and, above all, tolerance and respect for the democratic process. It does all of this, hopefully, without being too po-faced or earnest

I think it’s vital that the electoral process is normalised from as early an age as possible. If we want high voter turnout, and this should be a common aim across all parties, we need children to grow up thinking that voting, and campaigning, is something that everyone can, and should, do.

I’ve decided to crowdfund this project, where members of the public are invited to donate any amount, large or small, with the money only being released to my company if the entire target is met, for two reasons. First, because unlike most of our projects where we will be paying authors and illustrators on a royalty only basis, I want to be able to give the illustrator of this project an advance. This is because whilst I hope every infant school and library, and indeed household, owns a copy, I am not wholly convinced of its commerciality though I think it is a book that should exist regardless of this.  And second, because I love the idea of a book about democracy, government by the people, being funded by the people. If I can get cross party buy in for the project – and so far I’ve had interest and retweets, donations and messages of support from politicians and activists across the board – then the message of participation is stronger.

At the time of writing, halfway through the funding period, we have just under a thousand pounds left to raise – do please consider joining the list of funders.

‘The Independent View‘ is a slot on Lib Dem Voice which allows those from beyond the party to contribute to debates we believe are of interest to LDV’s readers. Please email [email protected] if you are interested in contributing.

* Ellie Levenson is a freelance journalist, lecturer in journalism at Goldsmiths College, director of Fisherton Press, and a member of Tottenham CLP