Mix Fairy Tale and Modern for a Creative Book Cover!

5-Minute Modern-Day Bedtime Stories: For Building Character

Savannah Bloom

Not long ago, in a land very near, a parent wanted bedtime stories with a point.

If you’re that parent, look no further! This book has fourteen stories that are: relevant, fun, contemporary, short, and geared toward a particular virtue.

As a parent of young boys, Savannah Bloom found read-aloud stories to either be 1) antiquated fairy tales, 2) Chicken Soup with extra cheese, or 3) contemporary and fun, but without a moral lesson. She felt trapped by these choices.

 Humpty Dumpty had a great fall…then his helpers give up.
 Little Miss Muffet sat on a…what’s it?
 Jack goes up a beanstalk(?) and robs a giant…three times?
 5-Minute Marvel/Paw-Patrol/Disney/Princess stories? What about stories with human characters like my kids – normal kids who learn tried-and-true, real-to-life virtues for everyday life?

So, Mrs. Bloom set out to write 5-Minute Modern Day Bedtime Stories to fill a void for parents wanting to use the vital bedtime routine to both entertain modern children and teach valuable character to their little ones.

She wanted to provide parents like her with read-aloud stories that…
…make sense to today’s children.
…are witty, fun, and entertaining.
…build character.
…and are short, so you can go do adult things.

Her first collection promotes character traits such as: Honesty, Self-Control, Helpfulness, Kindness, Positivity, Persistence, Gratitude, Cleanliness, Hard Work, and more, all while containing several features that parents will appreciate:
• Optional fun and serious questions to discuss with your child to ensure the lesson hits home.
• Human protagonists only, because research shows that kids learn character best from other kids – not anthropomorphic animals (Larsen, Lee, Ganea. Developmental Science, 2017.)
• All original stories, though some parallel old favorites (example: The Boy Who Cried Drone).
• Whimsical and fantastic vibe through use of technology (drones, portals, virtual reality, etc) with just enough plausibility to spark STEM dreams.
• No illustrations to incentivize kids to lay in bed, close their eyes, and fully engage their imaginations rather than demand you awkwardly position the book to show them every picture.

English-speaking parents of kids age 4-8.

I'm looking for a creative blend of old-school fairy tale imagery/font/etc, with modern day elements/style. Size will be 6" x 9". I want the thumbnail version to pop, with solid, bold contrast. SIMPLE is better, but you could have elaborate designs inside of that simplicity (like the Axdorian Fairy Tale book cover I attached). Some ideas for imagery I have are 1) Ivy turning into cables. 2) Ancient scroll-like font or image turning into tablet/digital text. 3) Part home/part castle, 4) Torches that are plugged in. 5) Modern things casting fairy-tale shadows. 6) Some elements from the fourteen stories - like drones, portals, clones, robot-dinosaurs, and virtual reality goggles. 7) Something that portrays kids building character/virtue while reading? 8) Something that appears 3D to make it really POP!

Really, though, I can see myself liking a combination of these ideas, or a simple design showcasing just ONE of these - or some other combination I haven't thought of! I'll also include some covers of similar types of books.

This is for parents of kids aged 4-8, so it needs to appeal to the parent (so they buy it) and to the kids (so they'll be excited to read it).

Too busy or too crowded.

Don't create something so dependent on the particular title/author name that I could not go back and change the title (like 5-Minute Modern Day Read-Aloud Stories instead) or author name if I want to later.

Also, please no cheesy clip-art.

I don't want all my ideas jammed in to the cover - I'd rather see a unique, more subtle blending - so also not a harsh half-and-half split of modern/old on either side.