About Janice Lawrence
I've spent my whole career figuring out how people learn. It turned out my most important students were my own kids.
The Work
I started at Xerox, helping pioneer some of the first interactive learning systems and visual interfaces ever built. That led me to found Learning Solutions, where for 30 years I designed training programs for Oracle, Apple, Cisco, Xerox, GE, Procter & Gamble, and the Children's Television Workshop. I built learning simulations, interactive video curricula, and one of the first visual interfaces for Apple.
Then I sold the company, spent a decade as a professional fine artist with work in museums and private collections, and co-directed over 100 films with my son.
I have never done anything the expected way.
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The Real Work
Along the way I had kids. Smart, funny, creative kids. My two children have autism and ADD. My nephew has dyslexia. Kids who struggled to read. Kids who got labelled.
That hurt. And I wanted to help.
I realized everything I knew about how adults learn applied directly to how struggling readers learn. Visual storytelling. Repetition with variation. Emotional connection before cognitive instruction. Pictures that do the work words can't yet do.
So I did what I do best. I wrote stories, painted pictures, and built a curriculum around them.
The Books
Sixteen illustrated books across four character series. Traditional tales for modern times — drawn from myths, ballads, and fairy tales that have been teaching children for centuries, reimagined for children who learn visually and emotionally before they learn to decode.
The Clever Girl outsmarts giants, witches, dragons, and fairy kings. The Kind Boy shows that kindness is its own kind of strength. The Brave Girl faces every fear and wins. The Happy Boy finds joy in places nobody else thinks to look.
Every book is illustrated by hand. Every story is built on a curriculum framework designed to develop six core learning skills. Every page is an invitation for a child to see themselves as the hero.
These stories are currently available in English, with French and Spanish editions in development.
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Clever Girl, Kind Boy, Brave Girl, Happy Boy
The Curriculum
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The books are the entry point. Behind them is a complete early language arts curriculum built around six learning actions — Seeing, Interpreting, Expressing, Solving, Connecting, and Predicting.
Each story is designed to build those skills one at a time, in a sequence that works for visual learners, late readers, and children with learning differences. The curriculum comes to life through activity playbooks, Grown-Up Guides, and a searchable library organized by learning difference.
Designed for parents, grandparents, educators, librarians, and therapists. Anyone who loves a child who learns differently.
I've also helped a lot of other kids.
Over the years I have worked with many children with learning differences. Tutoring, designing activities, and figuring out what works when the standard approach doesn't. Every child I have worked with has made these books better.
If you have a child in your life who is brilliant but struggling, you are in the right place. These books were made for them. And for you.
Start Reading Free
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