A LITTLE LAUGHTER. A DIFFERENT WAY TO LOOK.
A missing truck. A very careful cookie disaster. And, for older readers, a journey beyond everything a teenager thought she knew.
Meet the books
THE CHILDREN’S SHELF · AGES 4–7
SIBLINGS · ASSUMPTIONS · SAYING SORRY
A little red truck goes missing. Bea has a suspect. His grin looks guilty. Even his elbows look suspicious.
A funny rhyming story about jumping to conclusions, making things right, and looking again.
Read a free sample (PDF)Story questions and free companionCOUNTING · TEAMWORK · TRYING AGAIN
The count is perfect.
The cookies? Crumbs.
Pip and Lou must check the chocolate chips. But how do you count the ones hiding inside? Two careful helpers are about to make a very big mess.
Read a free sample (PDF)Counting activities and story questionsNEW PICTURE BOOKS · AGES 4–7
Meet two new picture books from Philip Cowherd. No Time Now! is available on Kindle; The Ribbon Knows! is coming soon. Read a free opening sample of either story.
TRYING IT OUT · SIBLINGS · THINKING AGAIN
Theo has found the perfect dragon crown. But he has lost the ribbon that tells him whether it fits. Fortunately, he has brought something else to the fair: his head.
A playful story about checking an idea against the world in front of you.
Read the free opening sampleTry the fit-and-check game
NOW ON KINDLE · AGES 4–7
Finn’s dragon wagon is almost ready. Rosie has spotted one small problem. Finn has a parade to catch—and absolutely no time to stop.
A warm, lively story about making time for the little things before they grow.
Kindle on AmazonRead the free opening samplePlay the pause-and-notice gameAFTER THE LAST PAGE
Simple ideas for reading together at home or sharing with a class. No signup required.
What did Bea actually see? What did she decide it meant? Try the read-and-play companion for It Had to Be Ben!
Get the free companion (PDF)Draw a cookie and add ten dots. Split them into two groups. Can you find another way to make ten?
Then ask: “What are Pip and Lou trying to find out? How could they check without breaking the cookie?”
Print two free activity pages with a paper cookie, a ten-frame, and prompts for grown-ups.
Get the counting activity (PDF)Make a big grin. Does it always mean the same thing? Take turns imagining a happy grin, a nervous grin, and a grin that says, “Come play!”
Ask: “What could we say before deciding what someone else means?”
ON ANOTHER SHELF · SPECULATIVE FICTION
The first thing she thought after dying was that Dad was going to be furious.
An atheist daughter. A Christian father. A human experience that raises questions neither can dismiss.
Inspired by the striking parallels between near-death accounts and DMT experiences, The Shape of Blue imagines what those shared patterns might mean—for a sixteen-year-old narrator, her father, and all of us. Sharp humor, grief, and wonder meet in an unfamiliar afterlife.
The author built her experience around recurring descriptions from both kinds of accounts. This is speculative fiction: an invitation to consider where scientific curiosity and faith might meet.
For readers drawn to questions that stay with them after the story ends. This novel includes a fatal car accident and grief; it is separate from our young children’s books.
Where the story began: near-death accounts, DMT, and the novel