This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This week's Utah Crowd-Funding Project is coming for your children's teeth.
Stephanie Ream, a mother of four living in Salt Lake City, tells the story of when her son lost his first tooth — and Ream got to tell him all about the Tooth Fairy. That story was insufficient for the kid, so Ream on the fly created another legend: The Tooth Ninja, who collects children's lost teeth to make weapons to protect his village.
The story grew into a family tradition, with Ream's husband creating items from random objects and leaving them under the pillow.
The story also inspired Ream to write a children's book, "The Legend of the Tooth Ninja," which she is now trying to get published.
Ream has started a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter, aiming to raise $5,000 to pay the book's illustrator, Yoko Matsuoka, and print and ship a thousand copies.
So far, the campaign has raised $605 in pledges. The deadline is June 12.
Benefits for backers range from a PDF of the book (for $5) to four hardbound copies and a "Tooth Ninja Starter Kit" (for $100).
—
If you have a crowd-funding project you'd like mentioned on The Cricket blog, email it to: spmeans@sltrib.com. Be sure to put "crowd funding" in the subject line.