Curious Minds

Story collections for ages 7–12

Books about the kids who try the hard thing anyway.

Curious Minds writes short-story collections for children and the grown-ups who choose their books. Every story starts with a problem a child will recognise — a shaking voice, a lunch table with no seat, a first attempt that falls flat — and follows her until she finds something that works.

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You Are Amazing & Brilliant

A graded series — each book is written for one age, so the situations, the sentence length and the story length all fit the reader you are buying for. Twelve stories per book, one full-page illustration each, and two pages at the back of every story to talk it over or try it out.

Cover of You Are Amazing & Brilliant, Age 7: a girl in glasses reading a glowing book against a starry sky.
Age7

You Are Amazing & Brilliant — Age 7

Inspiring Stories for 7 Year Old Girls About Courage, Kindness, Big Feelings and Never Giving Up

Short enough to finish in one sitting, written for a reader who is still getting comfortable going it alone. Big feelings get named rather than tidied away, and every story ends with something she can actually do.

  • 12 stories
  • 700–900 words each
  • Illustrated
  • Paperback
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Cover of You Are Amazing & Brilliant, Age 8: a girl in a denim jacket reading a glowing book against a starry sky.
Age8

You Are Amazing & Brilliant — Age 8

Inspiring Stories for 8 Year Old Girls About Self-Confidence, Friendship, Persistence and Courage

Eight is the year friendships get complicated. These stories sit right in that — being left out, being the new one, wanting to be liked and wanting to be honest at the same time — and let her watch someone work it out.

  • 12 stories
  • Illustrated
  • Paperback
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Cover of You Are Amazing & Brilliant, Age 9: a girl in glasses and a denim jacket reading a glowing book against a starry sky.
Age9

You Are Amazing & Brilliant — Age 9

Inspiring Stories for 9 Year Old Girls About Self-Confidence, Friendship, Courage and Kindness

Longer stories for a reader who can hold more. Nobody here is rescued by an adult with the right speech — the girls try the easy fix first, watch it fail, and go back in with a better idea.

  • 12 stories
  • 1,100–1,400 words each
  • 129 pages
  • Paperback
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True Stories

For older readers — real people who asked a question nobody had answered, built something, got it wrong, and kept going.

Cover of You Are Amazing & Brilliant: True Stories of Innovative Girls Who Changed the World.
Age10

True Stories of Innovative Girls Who Changed the World

You Are Amazing & Brilliant · Change The World

Smart, curious girls need more than encouragement — they need real role models. These are not stories about waiting or wishing. They are stories about thinking, trying, failing, and continuing.

  • Ages 9–12
  • Non-fiction
  • Kindle & paperback
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Cover of Why Nerds Rule the World: a boy in glasses holding a glowing flask and an open book.
Ages9–12

Why Nerds Rule the World

True Stories of Curious Minds Who Changed the World · For Boys Ages 9–12

The kid who takes the radio apart, asks one question too many, and gets called a nerd for it. This one is about where that ends up — told through people who were exactly that child.

  • Ages 9–12
  • Non-fiction
  • Kindle & paperback
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About Curious Minds

Curious Minds writes books for kids ages 7 to 12 and the grown-ups who choose them. Our story collections follow ordinary children through problems they will recognise: a voice that shakes when reading aloud, being left out at recess, a first try that does not work. Each one tries the easy thing first, it falls short, and then they find something that does.

Our true-story books introduce young readers to real people who asked questions, built things, and kept going when it got hard.

  • The child solves it. No adult arrives with the right speech at the end.
  • The first attempt fails. That is the part worth reading.
  • Problems can start on a screen. They get fixed in a room — out loud, with a person.
  • One age per book. A seven-year-old and a ten-year-old do not need the same story.