Illustration of Doodle, Bug & Bear Press’s sketch-loving mascot, drawing at a desk with a smile—illustrating one of our rhyming picture books.

Every Story Connects & Gives Back

Every Bug & Bear book is part of a bigger story.
Some connect in wild ways. Some spark brand-new ideas.
All are powered by imagination—and right now, during the Painting Grace launch, they’re connecting to something even bigger: our Story Shapers’ communities.

Through September 5th, 75% of ALL Painting Grace royalties go straight to the schools selected by our Story Shapers.

So explore the series. Find your family’s next favorite.
And know that every story you buy helps shape the next one—and supports a local cause along the way.

Presenting

Book Six: Painting Grace

Painting Grace is a lyrical children’s book that brings civil rights protest signs and historic protest quotes to life through the eyes of a child—and the wings of a butterfly who’s marched before.

Billy and Mary weren’t looking to start a movement; they just followed their mom into the crowd.

And then Grace found them.

Grace, a beautiful artist who’d seen this scene before.  Decades ago, she’d marched the path of protest, from Women’s Suffrage to the Civil Rights.
Now, she’s here to show the children that we need to keep showing up, not because nothing changed, but because not enough did.

As chants echo and signs rise, Grace paints her own vision of the future, with a chant submitted our Creativity Challenge Winner, Bray W:

“Rise women, love your place.
Always find your saving grace.”

Painting Grace invites kids to witness how small voices, joining together, become movements we can’t ignore.

Behind the Story

This story—Painting Grace—started with a young man who submitted the theme of women’s suffrage and a group of readers who chose it as the winning concept.

14-year-old Dom understood that justice isn’t just a woman’s fight—it’s everyone’s.

Then came Bray W., age 10, who gave us a protest quote too strong for silence:

“Rise women, love your place. Always find your saving grace.”

And then Charleigh L., age 9, drew an image of women doing anything they wanted—because they’re allowed to let themselves be seen.

Together, their ideas formed Grace—an elderly butterfly who has walked this road before.

Our Book Six Creativity Challenge Winners kids didn’t just inspire a story, they inspired a reminder that the legacy of civil rights protest signs and protest quotes lives on in today’s young changemakers.

History isn’t behind us.
It is us.

Every day, we shape the world we live in—with our voices, our actions, and our art.

Painting Grace is proof that when kids lead, we don’t just tell better stories—we shape a better world.

Grace is what happens when memory meets courage.
And this book?
It’s one brushstroke of many in a world we can create if we paint it together.

For families and classrooms looking to learn more about protests and civil rights, Learning for Justice provides excellent resources.

Story Shapers!

Theme Team

Dom

Age 14

Boise, ID

Women’s Suffrage

Sketch-Off

Charleigh L.

Age 10

Lake Charles, LA

Word Weaver

Bray W.

Age 10

Lake Charles, LA

“Rise women, love your place.
Always find your saving grace.”

Inside the Book!