KeyChapterBookStory

A new kind of writing
(and a new kind of challenge)

Chapter books were a whole different world. New pacing. New structure. A whole different way of holding a young reader's attention from one page to the next.

And then there's the part of my story that has shaped almost everything I do as a writer — my dyslexia. If you've ever tried to draft, edit, and polish thousands of words while your brain is constantly jumping around, you know it's not a small thing.

Even rereading what we wrote was hard. I was constantly forgetting details, and trying to tie everything together was a nightmare. Helping my son bring a long, traditional chapter book to life felt like climbing a mountain in flip-flops.

The lightbulb moment

So we sat down and rethought the whole thing. I asked my son:

"What if we made it shorter? What if we spaced out the paragraphs, spaced out the letters, so the pages didn't look so overwhelming?"

"What if we added a lot of illustrations, so the story moves quickly and feels exciting?"

The more we talked about it, the more I realized I was describing the kind of book I would have loved as a kid. Something that didn't feel intimidating. Something where the pictures pulled you in, and the chapters didn't feel like a wall of text. Something a struggling reader, a reluctant reader, or a kid like me could actually finish and feel proud of finishing.

• Something that didn't feel intimidating.
• Something where the pictures pulled you in.
• Something where the chapters didn't feel like a wall of text.
• Something a struggling reader could actually finish and feel proud of finishing.

That was the moment everything clicked.

Somewhere in the middle of working on Purple Space Chickens with my son, my own imagination caught fire. I kept thinking about the picture books I'd written and asking myself one question:

What if a character from a picture book could grow up into a chapter book?

What if the character your toddler loved could come back a few years later — a little older, a little braver — ready for a real adventure?

That idea felt like magic to me. And it became Sprinkles and Unicorn — my very first chapter book series of my own.

Why we called them “Key” Chapter Books

Once we had a few books underway, my son and I sat down for another brainstorm. We wanted a name that captured what these books really do for kids.

And then it hit us:

These books are a key. A key that unlocks a lifelong reader.

Where we are today

It still amazes me to write this, but today there are over 25 books in the Key Chapter Books series. What started as one chaotic first draft about purple chickens in space has grown into a whole little library of stories.

As my daughter got a little older, she wanted to write a series together too — and that's how Tiny and Mighty was born.

Every book we think about these people:

Every time I sit down to work on a new one, I think about three things:

• The kid who wants a story they can actually finish.
• The parent reading aloud who needs something fun and not endless.
• The little version of me — the struggling reader who would have lit up at a book full of pictures, short chapters, and weird, wonderful characters.

Dyslexia made me think this kind of writing wasn't for me. It turned out to be the very reason I'm so passionate about it.

If you'd told the kid version of me that I'd grow up to write 25+ chapter books, I would have laughed in your face. If you'd told me a few years ago that a conversation with my son about purple chickens in space would turn into a brand and a whole new chapter of my career, I would have laughed even harder.

But here we are. And I wouldn't trade the messy, hard, joyful journey for anything.

— Diane