Stories kids beg for.
Life lessons parents reach for.
Picture books for ages 3-7 that sneak real-life lessons inside stories kids want to reread.
Meet Book #1:
The Great Fuel Mix-Up!
What happens when a bus slurps toupee stew? Or when a helicopter guzzles dirty socks from a drain? Spoiler: nothing good.
In a seaside town, five vehicles keep trying the wrong fuel — with hilarious, sputtering, backfiring results — until they stumble onto the silliest truth of all: what you put inside powers how you feel, think, and move.
It's a laugh-out-loud rhyming adventure packed with hidden objects, bold retro-future art, and "Was it the right fuel? NOOOO!" moments your kids will be shouting long after bedtime.
LAUNCHING AUGUST 3, 2026!
The Great Fuel Mix-Up! will be available in paperback from Amazon, Bookshop.org, and major booksellers.
REVIEWERS & EDUCATORS: request a review copy at hello@nurtureandspark.com
Get the FREE Activity Kit while you wait →
Why This Book Exists
Most kids' books either entertain or educate. Very few do both well — and almost none give parents something they can use after the book is closed.
The Great Fuel Mix-Up! started as a conversation I kept having with my own kids. They wanted donuts for breakfast. They wanted candy for lunch. And every time I tried to explain why food matters, I sounded like a parent reading from a nutrition label.
So I tried something different. I told them their bodies are like cars: the RIGHT FUEL helps them run at their best, and they CAN’T run on empty. Suddenly it clicked — not because I lectured them, but because I handed them an idea small enough to carry around.
That's the whole book. Five vehicles, a town full of ridiculous wrong fuels, and one idea that sticks: what you put inside powers how you feel, think, and move.
I hope it gives your family a really good place to start.
Designs parents want on the shelf.
Bold art kids will love.
The Great Fuel Mix-Up! is illustrated in a bold googie/retro-futuristic style — the same playful, optimistic mid-century aesthetic behind classic roadside diners, vintage cartoons, and the design golden age. It makes the book fun to look at and impossible to forget.
About Nurture & Spark
I'm Brian — a dad in Utah who started using a "food is fuel" analogy with my kids, figured it'd make a fun picture book, and learned how to make one as I went.
What I wanted was the kind of book my kids already loved — great story, fun art, hidden things to find, silly when it can be — that also slipped in a lesson without anyone noticing. Books that turn into shorthand you reference all day long, even when it isn't story time. The kind of story that doesn't end when you close the book.
So that's what Nurture & Spark makes: picture books for ages 3–7, each built around one big idea a kid can actually hold onto — and a parent can actually use.
Because story time can do a lot more than fill the time before bed. It can shape who they're becoming.