From the mind of Dr Rachel Kowert, Research Psychologist, Parent, and Award Winning Author
Tales from Cloud Canyon
A series of short stories celebrating everyday children, doing everyday things, with their everyday abilities.
Explore the Tales
With more than 30 stories to choose from, explore the adventures of Ava the Adventurous to Zoe the Zealous and everyone in between.
About the Author
Meet Dr. Rachel Kowert
Dr. Rachel Kowert is a research psychologist, award-winning author, and mom of three. In 2019, she launched her first Kickstarter project from the Cloud Canyon universe – a collection of female centered stories entitled Pragmatic Princess: 26 stories of self sufficiency and raised more than $25,000 in 30 days and won an INDIES award for educational children’s picture book. Dr. Kowert has been featured in various media outlets, including NPR, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, and Wired.
“My goal with Tales from Cloud Canyon is to change the status quo around children’s literature and let children know that they are the heroes of their own story, no matter their gender, ability or background. I want all children to have the opportunity to celebrate the power of the everyday through the magic of storytelling… and maybe learn a thing or two along the way.”
– Dr Rachel Kowert
The Science Behind the Writing
Story Length
Each story in the collection was crafted to be between 450 and 650 words. This length also allows for multiple stories in the compilation to be read in a single session for the older readers.
Rhyming Scheme
Books that rhyme are fun to read because of their natural, song-like rhythm. They can also make the content easier to memorize for younger children, which can help transition them in to the pre-reading stage of development.
Diverse Characters
It was important that the characters of the collection were diverse: all shapes and colors, many different backgrounds, with various abilities and disabilities, and from traditional and nontraditional families.
Challenges & Lessons
Within each story in the collection, the main character in is confronted with a typical childhood challenge (e.g., a fear of trying something new or schoolyard bullying) and models a wide range of skills and ideas to navigate these challenges, such as problem solving, flexible thinking, and resourcefulness. The use of real-world situations and a diverse cast help the readers relate to the characters and experiences, which is critical to fostering observational learning and the successful aquisition of the skills modeled in each of the stories.
Intellectual
Social
Emotional
Moral
Meet the Characters
The characters in Tales From Cloud Canyon were developed to represent a range of shapes, sizes, abilities and disabilities, and traditional and non-traditional families.
“Every child deserves to be the hero of their own story!”
– Dr Rachel Kowert