StoryBeam KidsThe Reading Nook

The Reading Nook

Every picture from the StoryBeam Originals

100 illustrations from 21 books, drawn for the stories a kid asked for. Each one links back to the book it belongs to, and every book is free to read with no account.

Open the Reading Nook

Allison, Enzo, and the Long Loop

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — Allison, Enzo, and the Long Loop

Allison, Uncle, and Aunt lean over a trail map on the kitchen table while Enzo presses his nose onto the paper.

The family turns cheerfully from a closed footbridge toward the longer loop trail, Enzo trotting on his leash.

Enzo sits firmly planted beside a water bowl while Allison, Uncle, and Aunt rest on a fallen log with canteens.

Uncle holds the open map while Allison points to a blue trail marker on a post beside the path. Aunt keeps a hand on Allison's shoulder, and Enzo sits at the end of his leash. The marker's shape matches the one drawn on the map.

Enzo sleeps stretched across the back seat with his nose resting on Allison's boot, and Allison sits beside him with her eyes closed. Up front Uncle drives and Aunt rides beside him, facing a low sun going down over the hills. The trail map lies on the seat next to Allison.

Allison and Nonna's Warm-Water Day

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — Allison and Nonna's Warm-Water Day

Nonna sits in a chair in the shade beside the pool, both feet bare and one leg dipped in the water, a coral sandal on the tiles next to her. Allison floats on her back nearby with her arms spread wide, hair fanned across the surface, smiling.

An overhead view of Allison's crayon drawing: a simple golden sun, layers of wavy blue-green water, and one smiling swimmer.

Allison kneels on the sunny pool deck with both hands on the top towel of a neat stack of folded towels. Behind her a soft robe is draped over a wooden chair, with a glass jug of water and one glass on a small round table beside it.

Nonna steps confidently down the pool steps, smiling with her chin up and one hand on the rail, while Mom clasps her other hand and lightly steadies her arm; Allison reaches out from the shallow end.

Wrapped in warm towels at dusk, Nonna hugs Allison close beside the calm pool under a peach sky.

The Frost Before Breakfast

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Frost Before Breakfast

Mom stands alone on the dark grass under a sky full of sharp stars, face lifted to read the weather, while Allison watches from a warm lit window above in her pajamas.

The whole back yard is silvered with the year's first frost as Allison steps out onto the sparkling grass in her coat and mittens, dark green footprints trailing behind her, Mom watching from the porch steps.

Allison and Mom crouch side by side at the fence in the first gold light, Allison pointing at a spiderweb strung with rows of silver frost beads while Mom tucks a strand of hair back under her coral hat.

In the warm afternoon kitchen Allison holds up a small slab of ice with blades of grass frozen inside it, her other hand around a plain cup, Mom leaning in close beside her with an arm around her shoulders.

Allison stands in the year's first snowfall with her arms wide and her face turned up, catching flakes on her mittens, Mom close beside her looking up at the falling snow.

The Garden That Brought Friends Home

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Garden That Brought Friends Home

Allison crouches on a wide patch of bare dirt beside a closed wooden garden gate, smiling down at it. Mom stands next to her in a yellow sweater and cuffed jeans, hands in her pockets.

Allison lays a pebble path and Mom bends a twig arch beside a tiny wooden door, with one spot left open.

Neighbors of many ages crowd in a ring around the tiny house, with Allison kneeling in the middle of them. An older woman in glasses settles a pinecone roof onto the little door, Mom holds out a pot of herbs, and somebody else holds a pebble above the stone path.

The same tiny house appears four times in one frame: leafy green in summer, under red and orange leaves in autumn, buried under snow in winter, and ringed with pink and purple flowers in spring. The wooden door, the twig arch, the potted plant and the stone path stay the same in all four.

Golden evening light in the garden. Allison stands at the garden gate beside Mom, looking up at her, while behind them a woman and a man laugh together under a lit porch lantern, and the tiny wooden door sits at the foot of the fence at the end of its stone path.

Lumi and the Lantern Meadow

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — Lumi and the Lantern Meadow

Lumi, a small plum-purple paper unicorn, stands among closed moonflower buds as the moon rises over a pine ridge.

Pip, a field mouse in round spectacles, tips an acorn cup while Lumi pours a leaf-shaped watering can at the base of one tall moonflower plant with a closed white bud. Below the soil line, a cutaway shows the water darkening the earth around its pale roots.

Lumi sits still on a grassy rise, her horn unlit, looking out across the meadow. Beside her a green leaf tents a small snail, a tall stem arches at the right with two pale buds on it, and a short twig and loose grass strands lie nearby.

A moth sips nectar from the first open moonflower while Lumi watches from nearby.

Lumi lies curled asleep in the grass with a small ember of light at the tip of her horn, one closed bud on a stem beside her. Pip sleeps in his round woven grass satchel with his acorn cup on the ground beside it, and open white moonflowers glow across the dark meadow under a full moon.

Marlow Runs the Starlit Line

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — Marlow Runs the Starlit Line

Marlow, a small red and blue engine, stands on the rails at a night depot with three flat wagons in a line on the same track, each carrying a wooden crate marked with a sun, a trellis, and a silver leaf. Two hanging lamps light the platform wall, and a crescent moon hangs in the dark sky.

Conductor Bea and a gardener in a green apron hold a wooden crate marked with a sun between them, heaped with dark seeds. They stand beside three raked planting rows with a matching sun sign on a post, and Marlow waits on the track behind them under a wide pale gold sky.

Marlow waits behind a white line at a red signal while a family of deer crosses safely beyond the closed road barrier.

Marlow moves along the track through thick layers of gray fog over wooded hills, his headlamp throwing a pale beam ahead of him. Bea leans out of the cab window with one hand cupped to her ear, and a bell on a post shows through the mist beside the track.

In the roundhouse, Conductor Bea stands beside Marlow and holds a black cable plugged into a socket on his cab while he rests on the track, his headlamp a small amber dot. Three framed windows on the wall behind them look out on a green hill, a row of bean trellises, and a stand of shady trees.

Papa's Quietest Beat

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — Papa's Quietest Beat

Papa sets a small hand drum on the rug between himself and Allison in warm lamplight.

Papa and Allison sit cross-legged on a woven rug with the plain hand drum between them. His palm hovers just over the drumhead while her hand rests flat on it, and rings of coral and blue ripple out between their hands.

Allison leans over the drum on both knees, her hands blurred with speed on the drumhead and her hair flying. Papa sits beside her without hurrying, one hand steady on the far edge of the drum, while loose coral and blue rings scatter through the air above them.

Allison sits cross-legged with her hands folded in her lap, looking up at Papa, who rests one hand on the drum and holds the other just above it. Rain streaks the window behind her, and wide rings spread out from the drum across the floor.

Allison lies settled at bedtime with a soft pulse ring at her chest while a faint dreamlike image of Papa's hands over the drum rests above her.

The Crown That Was Too Big

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Crown That Was Too Big

The King's big gold crown slips down over Allison's eyes as she laughs with her arms out, and the King reaches to rescue it.

Allison sits cross-legged over a long paper map with her eyes closed and one hand gently curled, a lantern glowing beside her.

The long table is bare except for Allison's map, unrolled and weighted flat with small grey stones. The King leans over it in his blue robe and gold crown, both hands on the table, his eyes down on the long ochre road line. Allison stands at the near end with her hands on the table edge, looking up at his face, and his plain wooden cup stands on the bare wood past the edge of the map.

A line of small coral ribbon bows recedes down the long road toward the harbor while Allison ties the last bow and the King stands back with the map and his cup.

Allison and the King walk hand in hand at dusk down the long road, now glowing with a receding line of gold lanterns above the sea.

The Forever Den

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Forever Den

A white unicorn with a small gold horn drinks from a shallow stream in a sunlit birch wood, water dripping from her muzzle, while Mac the young cougar rests in the long grass beside her and Princess Allison stands very still at the right with her hands clasped, watching.

The King saws a board across a trestle outside a half-built wooden den of bare pale timber, its roof beams still open to the sky, while Princess Allison holds the far end of the board steady; Mac lies in the grass, the unicorn watches from among the birches, and Allison's crayon plan lies on a stone in rainbow stripes.

Under a deep blue evening sky the finished den stands painted in rainbow plank stripes flecked with gold, its wide doorway open on a dark and completely empty inside; the unicorn lies folded in the grass outside, and Princess Allison sits thinking with her hand at her chin beside the crouching King, with Mac at the path's edge.

Inside the den, its rainbow plank walls flecked with small gold sparks, Princess Allison sits on a grey wool blanket with the unicorn folded beside her and one hand resting on her pale mane. Glass jars stand on a wooden shelf in the corner, a cushion leans against the wall, and Mac sleeps in a square of sunlight near the wide doorway, where clover trails over the doorframe. Beyond the doorway, four small visitors stand far off in the sunlit garden.

At night the rainbow den glows warm from within while the King holds up a lantern and Princess Allison, barefoot in cream pajamas, leans into the wide doorway to whisper goodnight; inside, the unicorn lies awake in the grey wool with Mac curled asleep against her.

The Friends Who Did Not Match

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Friends Who Did Not Match

Allison stands at the edge of the small clear spring in the evening light, bending down delighted to greet a tiny coral-pink axolotl, the King beside her, while the cougar walks the top of the wall beyond.

Allison and the King sit quietly at the far end of the old wall at dusk, a courteous stretch of stone between them and the great cougar, whose head is turned partway toward them in the lantern glow.

By lantern light at the spring, the King kneels to set a flat grey stone in place at the water's edge while Allison reaches up to tie her coral ribbon to the lantern post. The little axolotl swims in the clear water below, and the cougar rests on top of the wall above, head up and turned toward the work.

Allison and the King walk home hand in hand down the lantern road under the first stars, her rolled paper in her free hand. A coral ribbon is tied to the lit lantern post beside them, the cougar sits on the wall above, and the little axolotl smiles from the spring below.

The King's Day Off

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The King's Day Off

The King's cup sits full, still, and without steam on the windowsill while Allison reaches toward it, concerned; beyond the window the King strides across the courtyard carrying a bench.

Allison sits at a small table by lantern light, delighted, drawing her plan: a chair shape, a wavy line, and a cup with three curls of steam.

The King sits under a teal blanket by the sunny window while Allison offers him a plain cup with both hands.

The King reclines under the willow with his eyes open and crown beside him while Allison sits nearby; the boat string rests loose in her open hand and the coral-sailed boat floats on the calm stream.

The King crouches to Allison's height at the warm doorway as she holds her rolled next-month plan; behind them the plain cup stands empty and clean on the sill in lantern light.

The Longest Royal Wait

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Longest Royal Wait

Inside the lantern's glass house sits a woven nest with a small brown bird; Allison and the King watch from a respectful step back, his lighting taper lowered.

Allison sits cross-legged on her bedroom floor in her nightclothes, chin in one hand and an orange crayon in the other, over a big sheet of paper with one scribbled nest circle in the middle. A lit lantern stands on the floor beside her, and through the dark window a line of small gold lights shines across the water.

At lighting time the King lights the next post down the road while Allison, a respectful step back from the nest lantern with its coral bow, draws the sitting bird on a small paper.

Three baby birds with their mouths wide open crowd the nest inside the lantern glass while the brown mother bird stands on the rim above them. Allison beams up at them with one hand at her chest and a blank sheet of paper down at her side, and the King stands beside her with his lit taper raised against the sunset.

The whole lantern road glows harbor to gate with no gaps as Allison and the King walk home hand in hand past the newly relit bend lantern, its coral bow still on the post.

The Name She Drew

0 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Name She Drew

Princess of the Month

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — Princess of the Month

Princess Allison sits at the breakfast table, smiling up at the Queen, who stands at the tall wooden dresser with both hands on a glass jar of honey and three gold keys at her sash. A round loaf waits on a plate in front of Allison, beside a clay jug and a bowl of fruit. A tall arched window is still deep blue with early morning, and a lantern burns overhead.

Princess Allison stands at the threshold of the gleaming training hall while Mac the young cougar sits calmly in the exact middle of the floor; beyond them one princess curtsies to an empty doorway, one pours tea by the cup shelves, one waits at the storeroom door, and Keeper Quill turns to welcome her.

Teacups lie scattered across the hall floor and a wooden tray leans tipped beside the long tea table, which is still set with cups. Princess Allison stands in the middle of the room holding a small brass bell, her face dismayed. Mac rests one heavy paw on a runaway cup, and three princesses lean in behind her, wide-eyed with their hands reaching toward the mess.

At the open great door a small princess in green arrives with her hair in a low bun while Petronella holds a deep curtsy with her chin lifted toward her, eyes up, and Princess Allison holds out the second cup with Mac sitting at her side.

The hall blazes with lanterns while the Queen, three gold keys at her sash, keeps an arm around Princess Allison, who wears the soft old award sash; one princess pours tea down the long table, another holds a deep curtsy, one carries lanterns, the small princess holds her cup, Keeper Quill stands on her step with the closed ledger, and Mac lounges on a bench.

The First Day of Princess School

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The First Day of Princess School

Princess Allison sits at her small table in warm lantern light, chin in hand, her orange crayon paused over a mostly empty map, while the lantern road glows far off through the dark blue window.

The King crouches to Allison's height at the sunny school gate, her satchel tied with a coral ribbon, while Queen Marigold waits in a warm robe at the open gate behind them.

In a bright classroom Allison happily holds up her crayon drawing of a little boat with a coral sail, while a quiet girl with a long dark braid at the next desk turns toward it with a beginning smile.

Allison sits on the sunny lip of the courtyard fountain, a paper across her knees and an orange crayon in her hand, her satchel with its coral ribbon on the stone beside her. Maren, with the long dark braid, and curly-haired Juniper sit on the ground facing her, turned toward the drawing. Other children play across the bright courtyard behind them.

Allison and the King walk home hand in hand down the glowing lantern road at dusk, her map held against her chest and his cup in his free hand.

The Queen's Keys

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Queen's Keys

Princess Allison kneels on the garden path with her paper and orange crayon, looking up at a small ivy-curtained wooden door in the stone wall, its keyhole shaped like a tall flower, with the fountain and bean rows behind her.

Princess Allison holds up her drawn plan while the Queen, in her deep evergreen gown with the ring of four gold keys at her sash, sits on a stone garden bench reading it with full attention.

Allison sits at a wooden desk redrawing her plan with an orange crayon, her gold crown set beside the paper and four season boxes drawn in green, gold, blue, and orange, while small pictures of the castle gate, the bakery hatch, and a bird house float above like thoughts.

Allison leans into the small brown door with one hand flat on the planks beside its iron lock, smiling as she pushes, while the King reaches above her to test the top hinge. The Queen stands a step back with a finger at her chin and three gold keys at her sash. A brass bell hangs on a hook beside the door, and a basket holding an oil can and a folded cloth waits in the leaves below.

At dusk the small brown door stands open with a coarse mat on its stone step and a lantern lit on the wall above. Allison stands between the King and the Queen and smiles up at the Queen, who reaches one finger toward the brass bell on its hook, three gold keys at her sash. The King holds his cup raised, and the lane runs off behind them between low hedges under the last orange light.

Room on the Map

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — Room on the Map

Princess Allison stands just inside a warm morning classroom with her satchel on, looking in surprise at a new empty desk beside a shelf of rolled maps.

Allison holds her big paper map open across the desk toward a dark haired boy in a green coat, seen from behind as he takes its far edge in both hands. Drawn on the paper are paths and buildings, a green courtyard, and a blue fountain with three small figures beside it.

In the lantern-lit map room, rain streaking the tall window, Allison asks her question at the big drawing table while the maps teacher, seen from behind with spectacles pushed up into his wild grey hair, gestures toward his wall of maps.

On the wet golden lip of the courtyard fountain after rain, Allison holds her orange crayon out to the new boy as he draws on the map in his lap, while two friends share bread and jam on the far lip.

Allison and the King walk home hand in hand down the lantern road at dusk after rain, a small cup and her rolled map together in her free hand and a second cup in his, with every puddle holding its own small light.

The King Who Crossed the Storm

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The King Who Crossed the Storm

Princess Allison stands in her pajamas at a tall arched window, one hand on the stone sill, watching rain slant across the dark blue night. Her small gold crown sits by itself on the sill, and a lit lantern stands on the floor by her bed.

Allison lies on her stomach drawing a crayon map by lantern light while the King watches warmly from the doorway with his cup.

Allison and the King cross wet courtyard stones at first light, her map in hand, steam trailing from his cup in the wind.

The King wades knee-deep beside a fallen log reaching for the little boat with its coral sail while Allison directs from the bank, holding a plain cup with both hands.

The mended boat dries on the windowsill beside a lantern while Allison, tucked in bed, smiles at the King raising his cup in a goodnight toast at the door.

The Storm That Stayed Inside

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The Storm That Stayed Inside

Princess Allison sits on a low stone stair with her arms folded and her brows pulled down, scowling straight ahead. A snapped orange crayon in two pieces and a torn sheet of paper lie on the step beside her, and a cloudless blue sky fills the tall window across the room.

Allison stands with her arms crossed in a long bright hall, her face turned up and away. A few steps behind her the King waits with a small smile, holding his own cup in one hand and a second, smaller cup in the other.

Allison and the King sit side by side on the wide stone stair, both looking ahead rather than at each other. She is grinning, with her cup held in both hands. Her small cup has no steam while his adult coffee still steams.

In golden afternoon light Allison leans against the King's arm on the stair, holding the mended drawing with its bright coral patch on her knees.

Allison sleeps smiling beneath the mended drawing on her wall while the King stands at the window with his cup, the lantern road glowing under a clear indigo night.

The King Who Went Out Early

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — The King Who Went Out Early

A girl in cream pajamas kneels on a window seat in a stone tower bedroom before sunrise, holding a small grey river stone in both hands and smiling out through a tall arched window; beyond the glass a lamp-lit gatehouse stands with its heavy wooden gate shut, above misty blue hills and a gold sunrise.

By lantern light on a wooden bedroom floor at night, Princess Allison in her teal overdress, coral sash and gold crown draws with an orange crayon on a sheet of cream paper: one arched gate shape with a row of short coloured marks beside it. A stuffed rabbit sits in a basket behind her and a far lantern glows through the dark window.

In a sunlit cottage yard the King in his indigo robe and gold crown points up at a patched slate roof while a woman in an apron and coral headscarf looks up beside him. At the empty wooden cart a bearded driver holds a dapple-grey horse, and Princess Allison sits on the cart edge with a completely blank sheet of paper on her lap and her chin propped on one hand.

On a dark country road lit by a receding line of gold lanterns, Princess Allison lies back against a grey wool bale in the loaded cart with her gold crown set down beside her and a coral blanket over her, eyes closed and smiling, a page covered in coloured crayon marks resting on her chest. The King drives from the bench ahead, seen from behind, and the cart is full of flour sacks, an open barrel of salt, stacked slates and a keg.

At sunrise a heavy wooden gate stands open. Princess Allison, in her ochre coat over cream pajamas with no crown, keeps one hand on the iron latch and looks up smiling, while the King crouches to her height and places a small grey river stone into her open palm. His plain clay cup sits on the stone wall, and a cart with two horses waits on the misty road beyond.

Princess Sela and the Palace of Small Repairs

5 illustrations · Read the book

Cover — Princess Sela and the Palace of Small Repairs

Princess Sela stands alone on the long carpet of a quiet throne room, an empty throne on the step behind her. Rain runs down the tall arched windows, and a cream cat with dark ears watches from a window seat.

A drip falls from a damp patch on the kitchen ceiling toward an empty metal bowl on the counter. Ivo points up at the patch while Princess Sela holds her notebook open in both hands, and Nim sits on the floor between them.

Sela crouches at the foot of a wide stair and ties a rose ribbon between two green posts, closing off the step where a strip of purple carpet has lifted loose. Nim sits beside the ribbon with one white-tipped paw forward, and Ivo stands nearby holding a plain card in both hands.

Princess Sela sits with Nim and her marked-up notebook while reminders from her list show a drip, hinge, loose curtain hook, and torn page.

The queen tucks Princess Sela beneath a warm quilt while Nim sleeps at the foot of the bed and the paper leaf crown rests on a shelf.