Becoming a mom was the catalyst.

After graduating with a master of publishing from Simon Fraser University, Susan Pi set off for the United States to start her career, first as a publicist at Ten Speed Press, and later as marketing director at indie publisher Heyday Books in Berkeley, California. Pi believed she’d spend her entire career in the U.S., but the call to start a family brought her back home to Canada, and with it came a realization: “Once I became a mom, I suddenly realized I had skin in the game,” Pi says over the phone from her home on Vancouver Island. “The world is getting messier, and I want my daughter to grow up in a hopeful world.”

This desire coupled with her lifelong love of picture books, and wanting to make the books she wished she had growing up, led Pi to start Rebel Goose Books. While people see geese as being loud, aggressive, and messy, Pi sees them as “being protective, loyal, and unapologetic about taking up space,” an attitude that informs the foundation of the small press, which launched in February 2025, and was incorporated in October last year.

When it comes to staff, look no further than Pi, because she’s doing it all. “This was meant to be something small, but I feel there’s a hunger for the kind of books we’re putting out there, and it’s just been phenomenal,” she says. “And now I’m chasing after a company that refuses to stay small, which is actually quite poetic, because one of the philosophies behind Rebel Goose is to remind kids not to be small.”

The press’s inaugural book, Guinea Pigs Don’t Wear Pants, written and illustrated by Ontario-based speaker, educator, and marketing strategist Chris Paul (Rainbows) Farias, launched last month, and celebrates what makes each one of us unique — alongside some exuberant animals that like breaking an expectation or two. Right out of the gate, readers jumped on board: it was an Indigo Staff Pick of the Month for June, a Today’s Parent Editors’ Pick, and garnered an endorsement from Rosie O’Donnell. In fact, the response was so great that Pi and Farias did a national celebrity read-along fundraiser that raised $150,000 (U.S.) for It Gets Better in California. It’s a poetic turn, because Pi isn’t looking to simply publish books – she wants to build communities.

“I’d love to replicate this with the rest of our catalogue,” Pi says.

Rebel Goose’s upcoming titles include the picture book The Way I Win, about a young boy who learns that thinking differently is what will help him succeed in his first Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournament; The Last Tiger, a wordless picture book about a tiger who lands on a mysterious island of black and orange cats, hoping to find another like her; a picture book by Les Stroud, creator and host of Survivorman, about a sasquatch moving through in-between spaces; and a YA graphic novel anthology exploring the darker edges of AI, which will be helmed by Drew Hayden Taylor.

By design, Pi plans to publish one or two books a year for the next few years.

“I love a lot of things about the industry, but there are other things that I don’t. When I was working at Random House’s Ten Speed as a publicist, it felt like a factory lineup. I had 10 to 15 books a season, I would show up, do my thing for two weeks, and then move on to the next book,” she recalls. “I didn’t like that part of it, and I know as a small press I can’t compete with huge publishing houses in terms of volume. So, I’m intentionally picking a couple books a year that I can champion. For example, with Guinea Pigs, we started marketing it six months before the book came out. And we’re planning on supporting the book and Farias for at least another year or two.”

A signal achievement was securing Orca Book Publishers as their distributor in both Canada and the U.S. prior to the publication of the press’s first book. The idea originated from Guinea Pigs agent, Amy Tompkins at Transatlantic, who mentioned to Pi that it’d be worthwhile to reach out to Orca as they, too, are located on Vancouver Island. It took months of emails back and forth, but Pi counts herself fortunate that Andrew Wooldridge, Orca’s owner and publisher, saw potential in her and Rebel Goose.

Guinea Pigs is definitely a successful launch for Pi and Rebel Goose, but it has also become the target of anti-LGBTQ hate messages. Pi has been on the receiving end, but the vast majority are being sent to Farias.

“It’s horrible,” she says. “In response, we decided that for every hate message Chris receives, we are going to donate a copy of the book to We Need Diverse Books in the U.S., and we just launched a program called the Guinea Piggy Bank. People can donate a copy or pay for shipping, and we will match that by donating a second book. If a library, a bookstore, an organization gets their copy damaged, or if a book gets banned in a school district, or somebody wants free copies for their organization, we will send those copies out to them.”

The distressing backlash, and Pi’s response, led to something completely unexpected: the Children’s Book Council reached out to Pi and invited Rebel Goose to become a member for free, even though the small press doesn’t technically qualify.

When it comes to the future of the small press, Pi has plans that include getting an office space and hiring project managers, but the bigger picture doesn’t end there.

“I love books, and it will always be about books, but my goal is to build communities around the ideas behind the books,” Pi says. She is hoping to find the resources to expand staffing to “explore how we can use YouTube to launch the beginnings of Rebel Goose Media – use YouTube to help expand beyond books.”

 “When I started Rebel Goose, and I guess this is also true when you decide to have a child, it’s a decision to choose hope and to choose love,” Pi says. “I am blown away every day when I sit down and work on Rebel Goose by how much love and hope there is in the world, and I want people to know that.”