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Ramentales

The Secret of Our Street

Ages 8–12Kindness

Invented example: Daphne in "The Secret of Our Street", the cover

from €37.90 incl. VAT + €6.90 shipping · free from 2 books

30 pages, 20 x 20 cm, your child drawn from your photo on every illustrated page.

Hardcover €47.90 · Softcover €37.90

Your child is the first hero, and up to 3 more: brother or sister, mum or dad, grandparent, another grown-up. €8.00 per extra hero

Personalise this book
Arrives 12–17 November
1 day: we create and check your book · 2–5 days: printing · 3–6 days: delivery

Every book is checked page by page before it's printed.

Chalk drawings and paper birds appear on the street every morning: a mystery with every clue in the words, and a kind answer.

What's inside

  • 30 pages, 4 of them colouring pages to fill in
  • 20 × 20 cm hardcover (softcover too)
  • Thick silk paper (170 g)
  • A page for grown-ups: tips and questions to talk about
  • Your child drawn from your photo on every illustrated page

What makes it different

  • Drawn from your photo on every illustrated page, not a cartoon with a name pasted in
  • In a Greek book, the name takes its right form in every sentence (του Γιώργου, τον Γιώργο)
  • Every book is checked page by page before it's printed

Watch the title change here and on every book on the site. It stays in this browser tab only.

All books

Helps with

Kindness

Focus and friendship: slowing down to notice, thinking before jumping to conclusions, and being kind to someone new.

The tool your child practises in the story

Look, note, wonder, check

Pick something small together, such as a new sign on the way to school or a change in the park. Look properly, note what you see and when, wonder out loud about every possible explanation, then check before deciding. Use it for disagreements too: "What do we actually know? How could we check?" Praise the checking, not only the right answer.

Page 26: For grown-ups. Every book ends with a page for you: what the story is about, how to talk about it, questions to ask and how to use the tool.

For grown-ups

What this story is about

A mystery on your child's own street: small chalk drawings and coded paper notes keep appearing at the gate. Your child solves it by noticing, writing things down and checking before deciding, and nearly blames the wrong neighbour on the way. The answer is a shy new girl who did not dare to knock. The story is about focus, fair thinking and the kindness of making the first move.

Three ways to talk about it

  • Read it as detectives: pause after each spread and ask what your child noticed. Every clue is in the words, so a careful reader can solve it first.
  • Talk about jumping to conclusions: when have you, or your child, decided something too quickly? What would checking have looked like?
  • Talk about being new: who in their class, club or street might be waiting for someone else to say hello first?

Three questions to ask

  • When did you first guess who was leaving the drawings, and which clue gave it away?
  • You nearly blamed Mr Stavros. Why did it look like him, and what changed your mind?
  • Lina did not dare to knock. What could you do for someone who feels like that?

Practise the tool together: Look, note, wonder, check

Pick something small together, such as a new sign on the way to school or a change in the park. Look properly, note what you see and when, wonder out loud about every possible explanation, then check before deciding. Use it for disagreements too: "What do we actually know? How could we check?" Praise the checking, not only the right answer.

If your child finds it very hard to concentrate for long, or feels lonely or left out for weeks at a time, talk to their teacher, and to your paediatrician or a child psychologist.

Look inside

Twelve illustrated spreads: the picture on the left, the story on the right. These sample pages show an invented child called Daphne.

  • Invented example: Daphne in "The Secret of Our Street", a page (p03)

    On Monday morning there was a drawing on the pavement outside the gate: a small bicycle with a bell and a basket, exactly like the one in the front garden, done in yellow and purple chalk. On the wall beside it sat a paper bird, folded from squared paper torn out of a school exercise book. Inside, in neat pencil, were two numbers: 8 9. No name. Nothing else. Fig Tree Lane was empty, except for Mr Stavros, watering his roses and not looking. Out came the green notebook. Monday. Bicycle. Yellow and purple. 8 9. And at the very back, on the page that had waited so long: Case one.

  • At six on Thursday, Mr Stavros was at his gate as always, green watering can in hand. Up before everyone. Saw everything. Loved puzzles. Forty years of crosswords! Suddenly the green notebook was marching down the pavement, with its owner attached and the accusation already on the way. Halfway there: the rule. His own rule. Look: no chalk on his hands. But hands can be washed. Wonder: why would a man who wrote puzzles for forty years only ever write 8 9? So: check. Politely. "Mr Stavros, have you seen who draws outside our gate?" "Not me," he laughed. "I go in at half past six. After that I hear footsteps. Quick ones. Light as a sparrow." One eyebrow went up. "You were marching." "Only halfway."

Spread 1 of 2

Inside the book

Twelve illustrated spreads: the picture on the left, the story on the right. This sample uses an invented family to show the illustration style.

  • Invented example: Daphne in "The Secret of Our Street", a page (p03)
  • Invented example: Daphne in "The Secret of Our Street", a page (p05)
  • Invented example: Daphne in "The Secret of Our Street", the cover
Two illustrated children standing side by side, smiling, in the style of our books.

Mia knew Fig Tree Lane better than anyone. Twenty-two houses, one wobbly drain cover, and a corner where the wind was always perfect for kites. It was all in the green notebook: who had a new car, which hedge needed a haircut, how many steps it was to the postbox (one hundred and four). Only one page was empty, the one at the very back, headed MYSTERIES. Fig Tree Lane was not that kind of street. This week the house opposite, number 8, had stopped being empty. Red geraniums on the step. A pair of small white trainers drying beside them. And a round window upstairs that looked straight across at the gate. "Interesting," went in the notebook. Then it was forgotten.

Who can be a hero

Styles

Formats and prices

Prices include VAT.

Your child, and more heroes if you like
Hardcover20 x 20 cm, matt laminated hard cover, 30 pages including 4 colouring pages.€47.90
Softcover20 x 20 cm, flexible cover, 30 pages including 4 colouring pages.€37.90

+ €6.90 shipping · free from 2 books