Stories. Learning. Community.
Children Book Square began with a simple idea: children are naturally curious about the world around them, and a good story can turn that curiosity into discovery.
Our stories are inspired by real places, real people, and the questions children ask when they encounter something new.
Hugh Anthony Garrison is an educator, storyteller, and creative director whose experiences in education, travel, and community-based learning helped inspire Children Book Square.
His work has included teaching social science, working with students in diverse learning environments, eco-education and tourism programs in Costa Rica, and collaboration with language schools throughout the Spanish-speaking world.
These experiences helped shape a belief that has followed Hugh throughout his work: meaningful learning can happen almost anywhere.
Today, Hugh also works as a stadium tour guide, introducing visitors—including many young students—to the fascinating world behind the scenes of a major sports venue.
During tours, children discover that a stadium is much more than a place to watch a game. They discover engineers, groundskeepers, guest-service professionals, technology, wildlife, and many other people and systems working together behind the scenes.
Watching children ask questions about this world helped inspire another question:
What if we turned that curiosity into stories?
That idea helped inspire Chepe and Rodeo: A Summer at the Stadium and eventually the larger vision for Children Book Square.
Hugh is also dyslexic, an experience that influences the way he thinks about reading, learning, and storytelling.
He understands that children do not all experience books or learning in the same way. His goal is to create stories that are engaging, visually inviting, relatable, and connected to experiences children can understand.
He especially hopes emerging readers will see themselves not simply as children learning to read, but as curious and capable learners whose questions and ideas matter.
Hugh sees his role not simply as an author, but as a creator, storyteller, and creative director.
Children Book Square is being developed through collaboration with educators and other professionals who contribute ideas, expertise, and different perspectives. As new characters and stories are developed, additional writers, artists, consultants, and subject-area professionals can become part of that creative process.
The goal is not for one person to tell every story.
The goal is to create a place where good stories can be built together.
Children Book Square is still growing—and that is part of the journey.
We hope it becomes a welcoming place where children, families, educators, writers, artists, and other professionals can discover stories, exchange ideas, and contribute to what comes next.
Because sometimes learning begins with something very small:
a character, a place, a bird, a question—or simply, “I wonder why?”
Welcome to the Square. Your voice is part of the conversation.
