The Little Thesis 2The Garden Grant
Curious Bunny spots sprouts in an empty lot and asks the question every grant starts with: what if? 101 coloring pages take ages 4 to 8 through a real grant cycle, from a neighbor survey and a budget to a proposal, a "not yet," a second try, and a garden the whole block helped build.
Available on Amazon • Paperback • 101 pages • Ages 4 to 8
Kids can learn how good ideas get funded.
The Problem
Most people write their first proposal as adults, with a deadline and no model. They never watched anyone ask for help, hear "not yet," fix the plan, and ask again. So the first rejection feels like the end of the idea instead of the middle of the process.
The Solution
The Garden Grant walks ages 4 to 8 through a complete grant cycle: find the need, ask the neighbors, read the rules, write the plan, send it, get turned down, listen, revise, and win. 101 crayon-friendly pages, the same four friends from Book 1, and a Junior Grant Writer certificate at the end.
Seven steps. One real grant, start to finish.
Every coloring page belongs to a stage of the grant cycle. Mazes, counting, bar charts, and draw-your-own pages sit inside the story instead of beside it.
Step 1: Spot the need
Sprouts in an empty lot. Who would love a garden here? The book starts where every good proposal starts: with a place that needs something.
Step 2: Ask the neighbors
Knock on doors, run a yes-or-no survey, count the tally marks, color the bar chart. Twelve neighbors want veggies. Now there is proof.
Step 3: Find a funder
Professor Hoot leads the team to the library and to the kind Tortoise who gives grants to good ideas. Every helper has rules. Read them twice.
Step 4: Write the proposal
A goal, the steps, who does each job, what a shovel costs, when each thing happens, and how you will know it worked. A budget is a plan for money.
Step 5: Check it and send it
Is every box on the checklist checked? Fold it, seal it, press send. Then the hardest page in the book: now we wait.
Step 6: "Not yet"
The letter comes back. Is it okay to feel sad? Is "not yet" the same as "no"? The Tortoise asks who the garden helps, so the team gathers the neighbors’ stories and tries again.
Step 7: Yes! Build the garden
Pull weeds, plant seeds, build the fence, measure the sunflower, pull the giant carrot. Opening day, a certificate, and the question that ends the book: what will you grow next?
The research team is back.
The four friends from Book 1 take on their first grant, with a new face on the block: the kind Tortoise, who gives grants to good ideas.
Curious Bunny
The Questioner
Glasses, a magnifying glass, and the first "what if." Spots the sprouts, asks who would love a garden, and writes the proposal in the first person.
Professor Hoot
The Mentor
Knows where helpers live: the library, the rules, the Tortoise’s house. Reads the guidelines twice and explains what "not yet" really means.
Detail Dog
The Counter
Tallies the survey, prices the shovel, counts the coins in the jar, adds up the budget, and checks every box before anyone presses send.
Subby the Robot
The Planner
Draws the path, lays out the planting map, sets the schedule, and fits every piece of the proposal together so it all makes sense.
Why this works for kids.
Grant writing is research with a budget
The same habits from Book 1 (ask, find out, plan, count, write, revise) now pay for something real. Kids see a question turn into a built thing the neighbors use.
"Not yet" is part of the plan
The team is turned down the first time. The book treats the sad bench, the reviewer’s note, and the second submission as normal steps. Most adults learn that lesson too late.
A certificate closes the loop
Kids finish as an Official Junior Grant Writer, with proof they planned, asked, revised, and finished. The identity shift is the point, same as the diploma in Book 1.
Built for the people teaching the next generation.
Parents
For the parent who wants their kid to learn that asking for help is a skill, not a weakness. A full story with a setback in the middle and a garden at the end.
K-2 Teachers
Community, surveys, tally marks, bar charts, budgets, calendars, and persuasive writing in one book. Fits a neighborhoods unit or a real class garden project.
Grant Writers & Researchers
The gift for the kid who asks what you do all day. Also an honest picture of the job: rules, budgets, waiting, "not yet," and the resubmission that gets funded.
Plant the Idea
Give a child a real grant they can color: a need, a survey, a proposal, a "not yet," a second try, and a garden at the end. The same four friends, one new lesson about asking for help.
Paperback • $11.99 • Available Now