The Inventor's Desk

Breathe First, Talk Second: The Behavior Script Inside Book 13

Guidance and challenging behavior is NAEYC's most-read topic. Book 13 hands a toddler the three-step script that early childhood educators keep asking for.

A Book Plus a Grown-Up Beats a Tablet Alone: Screen Time, Co-Viewing, and the Free Read-Aloud Audio

The NAEYC and Fred Rogers Center position statement on technology draws one line that still holds: passive screen use alone is out, interactive use with an adult can help. Here is how to use our fr...

Show and Tell Is the Readiness Skill Nobody Tests: Kindergarten Transition and Books 17 and 20

NAEYC devoted its Spring 2026 magazine issue to the preschool-to-kindergarten transition, and California now offers transitional kindergarten to every four-year-old. Book 17 is about the one skill ...

Reading Aloud at Bedtime: What More Than 20 Years With Inventors Taught Me About Curiosity

A patent attorney on the surprising overlap between bedtime story habits and adult inventor habits.

Andrea Beaty's Questioneers vs. Kit's Little Sparks: Which Age Is Right?

How the two series fit together. Short answer: Kit's Little Sparks is the prequel age. The Questioneers are the next chapter.

A 50-Book Library That Grows With One Child From Age 2 to Age 12

Four age-tiered series, one inventor's journey. Here is the full map of the Kit's Little Sparks universe.

Stereotype Threat Is Real by Age 6. Here Is What We Read Before Then

By kindergarten, kids have already decided who is good at math, who builds things, and who reads. A preschool co-founder on what to read in the years before that door closes.

Are Toddlers Too Young for STEM Books? A Patent Attorney's Honest Answer

The short answer is no. The long answer is what changes about STEM when you write it for ages 2 to 4 instead of ages 5 and up.

Best STEM Books for Toddlers Who Ask Why About Everything

A working patent attorney and preschool co-founder on what to read to a toddler who has discovered the word "why" and is using it as a weapon.