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 SEPTEMBER 15th, 2026!
The Great Fuel Mix-Up! will be available in paperback on Amazon, and hardcover on other major booksellers.
REVIEWERS & EDUCATORS: request a review copy at hello@nurtureandspark.com
Get the FREE Parent Guide & Activity Pack 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. Candy for lunch. And every time I tried to explain why some foods do more for their bodies than others, I sounded like a parent reading off a nutrition label — and they tuned me out.
So I tried something different. I told them their bodies are like cars, and food is fuel that helps them go. Some fuels are Super Fuel — they help you run, think, and feel your best. Some are Funky Fuel — fine here and there, but your body just can't do as much with them.
That reframed everything. It stopped being a lecture and became an idea small enough for a four-year-old to carry around and actually use. Funky Fuel isn't a "bad food," — it's just the fuel that won't help them perform their best.
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.
The Fuel Academy
The book plants the idea. The Fuel Academy makes it stick.
The Fuel Academy Program is the no-lecture toolkit that helps turn The Great Fuel Mix-Up! into a shared language your family — or your whole classroom — will actually use in everyday life.
Here's the sneaky part: kids see it as fun activities without noticing they’re locking in one of the most useful habits of their lives. Kids start to understand what fuel is for, they start taking more ownership over their food choices instead of being told, and the grown-ups get to stop nagging.
This is a real program — the kind schools usually pay for — yours for free. Includes scripts, activities, printables, and coloring pages for every kid. No charts. No shaming. Just a fun, repeatable way to talk about how different fuels make our bodies GO.
For Teachers, Directors & Homeschoolers
A ready-to-run storytime program — full scripts, group games, printables, and a license for every kid in the room. Minimal prep, no nutrition lecture, and one fun language your whole class shares. Review it, print it, hit the cruise control.
Get the FREE print-and-run storytime program for classrooms, homeschools & groups:
Bold art kids will love.
Designs parents want on the shelf.
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 Stoker — 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.