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Kickstarter Campaign Looks to Bring Queens ABC Book to Borough Schools

"Q is for Queens" Kickstarter
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www.kickstarter.com/projects/amol/q-is-for-queens

QUEENS — A campaign to fund the creation of a Queens-centric children's book that alphabetically chronicles the borough's famed people and landmarks has expanded in an effort to get copies to local schools and libraries.

Long Island City tech entrepreneur Amol Sarva launched a Kickstarter campaign last month to fund the illustrated kids' book, which he plans to call "Q is for Queens."

After quickly getting enough donations to reach his $8,000 goal, the father of two decided to go bigger — he's now looking to raise $35,000 in the hopes of supplying the book to Queens schools, libraries and museums.

"Folks were just enthusiastic about getting the book in front of more people and more kids in Queens, said Sarva, 36. "If we reach the right level, there would be enough extra money that we could give some books to every museum, library and school."

The idea behind creating the hardcover book was to expose both children and adults to the many great things Queens has to offer, Sarva said previously.

"Q is for Queens," will feature an illustration of a different Queens icon, place or historical figure for every letter of the alphabet, with ideas like "L" for Lemon Ice King of Corona or "S" for the Steinway Piano factory.

Sarva says the money from the first Kickstarter goal will be used to print an initial batch of books sometime this summer, with complimentary copies going to most his Kickstarter backers.

Right now, the campaign has raised just over $13,000, and he has another month to reach his new $35,000 goal to print enough additional copies to send to the schools and other organizations.

He said he's not sure if he'll hit the ambitious funding mark, though he believes it's possible based on the string first wave of support the project received.

"Folks were excited by the idea that we could get the book in front of every kid in Queens somehow," he said. "That seems like a really fitting and interesting goal."