Why Create Free Educational Guides for Every Book

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.”
— Albert Einstein

Promotional graphic for free educational resource guides from Little Goodbyes Press, featuring printable lesson plans, discussion prompts, and activities for teachers, homeschool families, and libraries. Includes monarch butterfly and link to littlegoodbyes.ca/resources.


Marketing Kids Books Tips

That's what I looked up and found the number one tip was free printable colouring pages.

Free Printables

When I first started researching how to expand and market children’s books, the advice was nearly universal: create a free printable page and offer it in exchange for email sign-ups. It was presented as the standard path. I did create some free printable pages, and added those to the Resources Page and think these are fun and will continue doing that here and there.

At the time, I only had Bye-Bye, Boobies in progress, and I was not even sure whether there would be more books after that. Building an email funnel around a single title felt premature. I did not want to create something transactional. I wanted to build something sustainable, even if it grew slowly so I started talking to librarians, homeschooling moms and teachers as to what would be helpful to position my books into getting into their spaces. I wanted them to hold up under discussion, not just bedtime reading. 

That is where the educational resource guides come in.

Companion Educational Guides

Right now, there are three official companion guides available, with more already planned as more books are completed. Each one is created specifically for its book and designed to deepen engagement in a thoughtful and age-appropriate way. These guides are free, and they will always remain free.

The First Three Educational Guides

Each one of these resource packs is tailored to its story. They are not generic worksheets or filler downloads. They have been created based on discussions with the people that will be using them in their homes and classrooms.

The Bye-Bye, Boobies Educational Resource Guide

Cover of Bye-Bye, Boobies Educational Resource Guide by Little Goodbyes Press, featuring an illustrated toddler walking across a red blanket with monarch butterflies flying overhead and a stuffed bunny holding cups. Companion classroom and family discussion guide for the children’s weaning book Bye-Bye, Boobies.


The guide for the book Bye-Bye, Boobies supports early literacy and emotional vocabulary development. It includes discussion prompts and reflective questions that help children articulate feelings around change and growing independence. It does not present the story as instructional or prescriptive. Instead, it creates space for thoughtful conversation in a developmentally appropriate way.

The Fox and The Crow Educational Resource Guide

Cover of The Fox and the Crow Educational Resource Guide by Little Goodbyes Press, featuring clay-style illustrations of an orange fox sitting and looking up at a black crow holding a piece of cheese on a tree branch. Monarch Tales logo appears in the top corner. Educational companion guide for the children’s fable The Fox and the Crow.

The guide for The Fox and The Crow book explores theme, character motivation, and critical thinking around flattery and consequences. It encourages children to examine why characters make certain choices and what those choices lead to. 

Click here to download the free PDF Educational Resource Guide for The Fox and The Crow.

The Camel's Nose Educational Resource Guide

Cover of The Camel’s Nose Educational Resource Guide by Little Goodbyes Press, part of the Monarch Tales series. Features a handcrafted clay-style camel standing beside a red tent with green lining. Companion classroom guide for the children’s fable The Camel’s Nose.


The guide for The Camel’s Nose book focuses on persuasion, boundaries, and incremental change. It invites discussion about how small decisions can gradually reshape a situation, and how to recognize those shifts.

Click here to download the free PDF Educational Resource Guide for The Camel's Nose

Each guide has been carefully developed and reflects the tone and purpose of the book it accompanies.

Why The Educational Resource Packs Are Free

As I'm sure that you can tell from my previous posts, access matters to me. If a teacher wants to bring one of my books into the classroom, I do not want cost to be a barrier to fully using it. If a homeschool family downloads a guide, I want them to feel supported, not upsold.

That being said, free does not mean casual, free does not mean temporary, free is for inclusion.

These guides are part of the long-term structure of the books that we're creating. They strengthen classroom relevance, they support literacy goals. They make it easier for libraries to integrate independent titles into programming (see why Libraries Help Indie Authors and their Communities) . They give families reasons to return to a story and see something new in it.

Keeping them free is a deliberate decision.

Properly Registered and Archived

Even though these guides are free downloads, from our end they are treated as real publications.

Each guide has its own ISBN. Each one is registered with Library and Archives Canada. Each is catalogued and formatted professionally. They are not loose PDFs floating online. They are companion resources that formally belong to the publishing record of the book. 

That level of structure matters to me. It signals that even as a small independent press, the work is built carefully and intentionally.

More Are Educational Guides Planned

Our goal is that every new picture book title will eventually have its own companion guide. Some will focus on literacy and moral reasoning, especially within the fables. Others may lean more heavily into cross-curricular connections depending on the theme of the book.

Over time, I want the resources section of this website to feel like a growing reference library. Not overwhelming or cluttered, just steady and useful.

The books are one part of the foundation. The educational guides are another. Together, they strengthen discoverability, classroom integration, and long-term relevance.

You can browse the current educational guides in a few places:

Little Goodbyes Press Resource Section

Little Goodbyes Press Teachers Pay Teachers

Little Goodbyes Press Pinterest


You can explore all of our current titles on our Books Page.

If you'd like to help share our works, visit our Libraries Page for circulation details and ISBNs.

Our books are available through major retailers including Chapters, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, and Waterstones.

Location: Canada

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