These books are for every family
Every family has moments where a child needs to feel seen. These stories were written for all of them — including yours.
Every Family
For any child who has ever needed a reminder that they matter, that their feelings are valid, and that they are loved exactly as they are — these stories are for them.
Foster Families
For children experiencing transition, uncertainty, new routines, and big emotions, these stories offer gentle support without pressure. They help create calm moments, emotional language, and connection.
Adoptive Families
For children asking questions about identity, belonging, and where they fit, these books create space for reassurance, conversation, and the steady message that they are deeply wanted and wholly loved.
Kinship Families
For grandparents, relatives, and loved ones stepping in with care, these stories support children who may be carrying confusion, loss, or mixed emotions while also honoring the love that holds them.
I am the little girl
I felt invisible.
Like I didn’t matter.
I felt I couldn’t make a difference.
Until
I found my purpose.
And so will you!
My Story
I grew up knowing what it feels like to be invisible.
Not in a small way. In the deep, quiet way of a child who looks around at everyone else and wonders why belonging seems to come so easily to them and not to her. I carried that feeling for a long time — the ache of wondering if I mattered, if anyone truly saw me, if there was a place in this world that was mine.
I did not have a book that told me there was.
And then the children came through our door.
My husband and I opened our home to foster care. And in those children — in their eyes, in their silence, in the way they held themselves like they were waiting to be sent away again — I saw something I recognized. The same loneliness I had carried. The same desperate, unspoken need to matter. To belong. To have someone look at them and say: you are seen. You are wanted. You are enough.
It sparked something old in me. Something I had not fully let myself feel in years. Because when you have lived in that place — the invisible place — you do not forget it. You just learn to live around it. Until a child walks through your door carrying the same weight you once carried, and suddenly it is not something you lived around anymore. It is something you have to do something about.
I started reading to them.
And I watched something happen that I could not stop thinking about. A simple story changed everything. Not because the words were magic — but because when a child hears a story about a character who feels what they feel, something shifts. They lean in. They breathe. They begin to believe their feelings have a name and a way through.
I sat down to write one story for one child. What came out was a growing collection of books — and a mission that has not stopped growing.
Every book I have written was written for a real child I love. Every tool was built for a real moment — the morning when feelings are too big, the transition that falls apart, the child who cannot find the words.
These books are for your family. And for you.
— Trish Iiams • Author, Illustrator & Founder • The Little Pebble Books
Some children need more than a story.
They need language for what they feel. They need reassurance when life feels uncertain. They need reminders that being quiet, overwhelmed, different, or unsure does not make them less worthy of love.
The Little Pebble Books were written with tender hearts in mind — especially for children navigating change, grief, identity questions, attachment, transitions, and belonging.
Every Number Is a Child
These are not just statistics. Each one represents a real child — with real feelings, real needs, and a real capacity to heal when they feel seen and safe.
These children do not need to be fixed. They need to be seen. They need language for what they feel. And they need someone to tell them — through story, through presence, through love — that they matter.
What these stories can help with
Every child’s story is different, but many families come here looking for gentle support in moments like these.
You don’t have to know exactly what to say.
If a child in your life is struggling, feeling big emotions, or trying to understand where they belong — you are not alone.
Start with what you’re noticing. Even if you don’t have the words yet.
Start with the need you’re seeing right now
Sometimes families do not need the perfect words first. They just need a place to begin.
For Those That Love Them
For foster families. Adoptive families. Grandparents and kinship caregivers. And anyone who has opened their heart to a child who has been through hard things.
These books were written for the children in your home. And for you.
You Matter. You Make a Difference.
You Got This!
A Note from Trish
If you are reading this at midnight wondering if you are doing enough — you are.
The fact that you are here, looking for the right words to give a child who has been through more than any child should face, tells me everything about who you are.
These books are for you too. Not just for the children in your home — for you. Because sometimes we need to be reminded, alongside them, that we matter. That the small things we do send ripples farther than we know.
You don’t have to do this alone.
Thank you for opening your door.
— Trish Iiams
For those who love them. 💛
For Foster Families
The children who come. The nights that are hard. The slow miracle of trust.
You opened your door not knowing who would walk through it or what they would carry. The children in The Little Pebble Books know what your children know — what it feels like to be unsure, to be big inside, to wonder if this is where they finally belong. These stories were written for those children. And for the parents who show up for them every single day.
Research: Nearly 40% of foster children experience three or more placement changes in a year. These books create a consistent, warm world that travels with them.
For Adoptive Families
The child who is yours. The story that started before you.
Adoption is love. It is also complexity — the questions children carry about identity, belonging, and where they fit in the story of their own life. The Little Otter. The Zebra without stripes. The Moon who wanted to stay. These characters know those questions from the inside. So does their author.
Research: Children who have experienced early separation often carry questions about identity long after finding a permanent home. Story reaches what direct conversation sometimes cannot.
For Grandparents & Kinship Caregivers
Starting over. Showing up. Loving without hesitation.
For every one child in the formal foster care system placed with a relative, there are 18 more being raised by relatives outside that system — without the same resources, support, or recognition. If you are one of those 18 — this program was built for you too. You are not invisible here.
Research: 50% of kinship caregivers are age 60 or over. You are starting over in a season most people spend differently. These books were built by someone who understands that season intimately.
For Anyone Who Opened Their Heart
A stepparent. A relative. A family friend who said yes.
You do not have to fit a category to belong here. If there is a child in your life who has been through hard things — who carries big feelings, who wonders if they matter, who needs a story that says you are seen — these books are for that child. And for you.
Research: Every child, regardless of how they came to you, needs to feel safe, seen, and certain they belong. That is what every book and every tool in this program was built to give them.
The Truth of the Matter
Nearly 90% of children in foster care have experienced trauma. More than 2.5 million children in the United States are being raised by grandparents, relatives, or close family friends with no parent in the home.
These are not abstract numbers. These are the children in your home. And they deserve a story that says: you are seen.
Sources: Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) FY2024 • Annie E. Casey Foundation • Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network
More than books
Many families also need practical tools they can use right away. That’s why The Little Pebble Books also includes calming supports, emotional literacy tools, and gentle companion resources designed to help children name what is happening inside.
These are simple tools for home, bedtime, transitions, quiet moments, and the hard days.
• Feeling and emotion supports
• Gentle read-aloud connection moments
• Printable resources for home
• Story-based conversations that feel safe
Tools for the Difficult Moments at Home
When your child is overwhelmed, they don’t need a framework.
They need something simple, physical, and repeatable — right now.
You don’t have to get it perfect — just being there matters.
When your child is overwhelmed, their brain is in survival mode. You cannot reason with survival mode. But you can give the nervous system something physical to anchor to.
Find a small stone. Hold it. Breathe in slowly while you feel the weight. Breathe out slowly. Thirty seconds. It works.
Eight simple steps that move the body from overwhelmed back to calm.
Step in. Take a breath. Pull in tight like a turtle in its shell. Hold. Release. Breathe out. Come back slowly. You are safe.
For the child whose big feelings come out as big energy. This tool moves feelings through the body with breath and movement.
Seven steps of breathing and wing movements. Your child does not need to be calm to start — just willing to begin.
For the anxious child who needs a slow, steady rhythm.
Breathe in as the wave comes in. Breathe out as it goes. No two waves are exactly alike. Keep breathing.
A story cannot fix what a child has been through. But it can be the first place they feel seen. And the need for that is greater than most people know.
Books, kits, and tools for every family
Every book is $10 — already below retail — because every child deserves access to a story that sees them. Kits are available for agencies, caseworkers, and families who need more.
One Book
Any single title — available on Amazon or direct order. Each book stands completely alone.
3 Book Bundle
Three titles — saves $2. A great starter set for your home shelf or to have ready for transitions.
Toby’s Belonging Kit
Book, stuffed Toby, calm-down cards, coloring book, crayons, and stickers — everything a child needs when they walk through a new door.
Full Collection
All 8 books — saves $8. The complete Little Pebble library for your home, agency, or program shelf.
Kits are also available through the Care Program at no cost to families — funded entirely by donations. If there is a child in your care who needs a kit, reach out and tell us about them.
Find the right place to begin for your family or organization
Whether you are a foster parent looking for one book, an agency wanting to provide kits, or someone who wants to sponsor a child — here is exactly how to take the next step.
For families — start with a book
If you are a foster, adoptive, or kinship family looking for a book for a child in your home — start with the one that fits what they are carrying right now. Each book stands completely alone.
For agencies — request Toby’s Belonging Kits
Foster care agencies, caseworker teams, and child welfare organizations can become distribution partners for Toby’s Belonging Kits — provided at no cost to children through the Care Program.
For donors — sponsor a kit
A sponsored Toby’s Belonging Kit — $50 — puts a book, a stuffed Toby, calm-down cards, a coloring book, crayons, and stickers in the hands of a child entering foster care. Every kit is funded entirely by donations.
For the child arriving — the first moment, the first days
Every item in the kit features Toby — the same character from the book. It is not a generic bag of items. It is a consistent, comforting world a child can carry with them through every new door.
For children already in placement who still need comfort and connection
The transition into care is just the beginning. Many children in foster care, kinship placement, or navigating family court continue to carry big feelings long after the first days. Toby’s Care Kit gives them something warm to hold, something to do with their hands, and words that say: you are seen, you matter, and you are not alone.
Toby’s story is about belonging — about carrying your home with you and finding that home is not a place, but the people who choose you. The perfect companion for a child still finding their way through.
Is there a specific child or family who needs support?
Foster parents, kinship caregivers, and adoptive families can reach out directly. If there is a child in your care who needs a kit — we will do our best to make sure they get one. Reach out and tell us about them.
Tell Us About a Child Who Needs a Kit“Not every foster child arrives in a new home with anything familiar to hold onto. Toby was made for exactly that moment.”
Whether you are a family, an agency, or someone who wants to help — there is a place for you here.
You do not have to have all the right words to begin
Sometimes healing begins with a quiet story, a safe lap, and a child who finally feels seen.
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