♥

SHENÉ BROWNLEE

Idea

Story

Spreads

Read it

Video

Cadence

Read the book

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01 — Custom storybook · commissioned gift · 2026

Head,
not Tail!

A bedtime rhyme for Brayden.

A forty-two page picture book written, illustrated and designed for one specific five-year-old — the son of a friend. It’s a rhyming bedtime story about a boy named Micah who learns to lead with love, think for himself, and hold his ground when the crowd gets loud.


It ends with a call-and-response the dad and son can say together, which is really the whole point of the thing.

Project

Custom storybook · gift commission

Role

Author · illustrator · designer

Extent

42 pages · 8×8in square

Made for

DAD:T. lEE & SON:Brayden

Year

2026

Written for one kid. Works for every kid.

  • Head, not tail

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  • Lead with love

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  • Think for yourself

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  • Me!

    ♥

  • Head, not tail

    ♥

  • Lead with love

    ♥

  • Think for yourself

    ♥

  • Me!

    ♥

02 — Project overview

A friend mentioned that his son had started asking for stories “about being good.” So I wrote him one. Not a generic children’s book with his name swapped in — an actual story, built around the values his dad was already trying to teach him, with his face on the dedication page.

Everything in it is original: the verse, the character of Micah, the town of Brightville, the illustration set, the typography and the object itself. It was produced as a real square hardcover so it lives on a shelf and gets read at bedtime, not opened on a screen once.

Format

42-page square hardcover picture book, 8×8in

Scope

Story, verse, character design, AI illustration, layout, typography, production

Audience

Ages 3–7 · bedtime, classroom read-alouds

Role

Sole author — writing through print-ready file

Status

Printed and delivered · 2026

03 — The challenge

How might we

Teach a five-year-old about character without it feeling like a lesson?

Books written to instruct kids usually announce it. The moral arrives on page two, the child in the story has no real choice to make, and the whole thing reads like homework with pictures. A kid clocks that immediately and asks for a different book.


The story also had to work at the end of a long day, in a quiet room, out loud — which is a much narrower brief than it sounds.


So the values are never stated at the reader. They’re things Micah decides, in front of other kids, with something to lose each time. And the message only becomes explicit at the very end, when the child gets to say it himself.

Pages

42

Call-and-response rounds

04

Kids it was written for

01

Head, not tail.

One phrase a child can carry out of the book and use on a playground the next day. It’s short enough to remember, rhythmic enough to chant, and it means something specific: you go first, you decide for yourself, you don’t just follow. Every scene in the story is built to earn that line.

Lead with love

Think for yourself

Be steady

Make room for others

Choose what’s right

Black joy

04 — The big idea

From Conversation to Character

The characters for Head, Not Tail! began with a conversation I overheard between Travis and his son, Brayden. Travis was encouraging him to be a leader, to trust his own judgment, and to understand that doing the right thing may not always be the popular choice.


That simple father-son exchange became the heart of the story and shaped how I approached the character design. Brayden needed to feel curious, expressive, relatable and still growing into his confidence, while Dad became the steady voice helping guide him toward understanding what leadership can look like.


The illustrations were developed to make that lesson feel approachable rather than instructional, turning a real conversation about courage, individuality and decision-making into characters young readers could recognize themselves in.

CHARACTER DESIGN · ai illustration

DAD

Dad was designed as the steady presence of the story. His rounded silhouette, warm expressions, relaxed posture, and approachable wardrobe reinforce a character who feels protective, patient, and easy to trust. His expressions and poses were developed to support his role as both parent and storyteller.

brayden

Brayden’s design centers on curiosity, imagination, and childhood wonder. His softer proportions, expressive eyes, and playful body language help communicate a child who is constantly observing, thinking, and discovering. The pajama design and rocket imagery add another layer of imagination to his personality.

micah

Micah was created with a slightly more independent and energetic personality. His hoodie, backpack, sneakers, and confident poses give him an everyday, adventurous quality, while his facial expressions allow him to shift naturally between excitement, curiosity, surprise, and thoughtfulness.

main characters

Together, the three characters were designed to feel like they belong to the same family and story while still having their own recognizable personalities, silhouettes, and ways of moving.

05 — The story

Five choices, one quiet kid.

Micah isn’t the biggest, the loudest or the fastest — that’s established on his first page so the reader knows leadership isn’t going to look like winning. Each scene puts him somewhere a kid recognises and gives him something to decide.

Story arc · five beats

Beat 01

The swings

Kids shove and shout “ME! MINE!” Micah looks at the crowd and chooses not to follow the pushing and the loud.

Beat 02

The lace

A kid by the fence has an undone lace and wobbly eyes. Micah walks over instead of running ahead.

“Need help? No stress.”

Beat 03

The tower

A group build. Micah assigns roles instead of copying the next table and when the tower leans and someone snaps at him, he takes the note.

Beat 04

The litter

Older kids drop trash and tell him everybody does it. This is the hard one: he says no out loud, and starts picking it up alone.

Beat 05

The mirror

Alone that night, Micah says it to himself before anyone else says it to him. Then the story returns to Brayden’s own bedroom.

06 — Spreads

Picture left, verse right.

The book runs on a fixed rhythm, a full-bleed illustration, then a quiet cream page carrying four lines of verse. It gives a child something to look at while the words land, and it gives whoever is reading aloud a natural place to pause.

Illustration · verse · repeat

“A kid near the fence had a lace all undone…”

the lace

pp. 13–14

“They tried again — fold, tuck, balance, align…”

the tower

pp. 23–24

“Micah felt thumpy — his brave took a breath…”

the litter

pp. 29–30

07 — Read the whole thing

All forty-two pages, cover to cover.

Open as a two-page spread and turn it like the real thing. Arrow keys work, so does swiping, or jump anywhere with the thumbnails. It’s the printed file exactly as it went to press.

Full book · two-page spread

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08 — The book in motion

The scene
it all starts from.

5:15 video· 1:1

I explored an animated version of the book by translating the illustrated characters, expressions, environments, and key story moments into motion. The goal was to preserve the warmth and personality of the original story while adding movement, timing, voice, and emotion that could make the message feel even more engaging for young audiences.


The animation direction focused on expressive character acting, simple cinematic moments, and playful transitions that support the heart of the story without overpowering it. Each scene was approached as an extension of the book, creating a version that feels familiar to readers while giving Dad, Brayden, Micah, and their world a new sense of life.

09 — The affirmation cadence

The last page is a duet.

The book closes with a call-and-response the two of them perform together. Dad asks, Brayden answers. It’s the only part of the story where the child speaks out loud, and it’s the reason the book gets asked for again.

Four rounds · read aloud

Dad

Who leads with love and a steady inhale?

Brayden

Me! I’m the head, not the tail!

Dad

Who thinks for himself when the crowd gets loud?

Brayden

Me! I stand strong in the crowd!

Dad

Who chooses what’s right, even if it’s not “cool”?

Brayden

Me! I use my heart as a tool!

Dad

And what are you every day, without fail?

Brayden

The head, not the tail!

10 — Craft notes

Written to be said out loud.

Every decision in the book answers to one test: does it work at nine at night, in a quiet room, read by a tired parent who has done this four nights running?

Verse · art direction · type · object

01 — The verse

Four lines a page, anapestic and steady

A galloping meter with rhymes on lines two and four, so the reader falls into a rhythm and the child can hear the next rhyme coming. Four lines per page is short enough to hold a young attention span and long enough to land a beat of the story.

02 — Art direction

Warm days, warmer nights

The story’s outer frame — bedroom, lamplight, dad — is deep blue and gold. Micah’s world inside the story is daylight: autumn oranges, sky blues, classroom clutter. Coming back to the blue at the end tells a half-asleep kid the story is finishing.

03 — Typography

Centered verse, bolded only twice

Text pages are quiet on purpose: centered, generous leading, no illustration competing with it. The only bold in the entire book is the phrase “I’m head, not the tail” — used twice, once by Micah and once in the mirror, so the eye learns it before the child does.

04 — The object

Square, hardcover, his face inside

Produced as a real 8×8in square hardcover rather than a file. The dedication page carries a photograph of Brayden himself, which is the difference between a book about a kid and a book that belongs to one.

#16203A

Bedtime navy

#E9A63C

Lamplight gold

#C1442F

Micah red

#7FB6CE

Brightville sky

#4B7C52

Playground green

#F7F1E1

Verse page cream

11 — Objectives

One reader, one review.

This was a gift, not a product. There’s no print run, no sales figure and no rating to quote. What there is: three things the book had to do, and the only opinion that counted.

Gift commission — not a trade title

Objective 01

Get asked for

Be the book a kid picks off the shelf on his own, more than once, without being steered toward it.

Objective 02

Give them something to do together

End with a ritual, not a moral — a call-and-response that belongs to a father and a son and outlasts the reading.

Objective 03

Look like him

Put a Black boy at the centre of a story about leadership, joy and everyday brilliance, drawn with real care.

42

Pages — written, illustrated, laid out and printed

04

Call-and-response rounds on the closing page

01

Kid it was written for — and the only review that mattered

Head, not tail.

“Remember — be steady, be true… the leader you’re growing is already in you.”

A story written for one child, about the kind of person he’s already becoming.

Story • Verse • Character design • Illustration • Layout • Typography • Print production

IMAGINED IT, Wrote it, and printed it.

Shené Brownlee is a storyteller, designer and creative director who believes every child can lead with courage, kindness and confidence. Head, Not Tail! blends playful rhyme with affirmations that help kids trust their voice, think for themselves, and choose what’s right even when it’s hard , celebrating imagination, Black joy, and the everyday brilliance of children becoming who they’re meant to be.

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Head, Not Tail! — Shené Brownlee © 2026

Imagine Reign Creative Studios · Columbus, Ohio

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