Brave stories for growing minds.
Growing Brave Press is a small UK imprint publishing picture books for children aged 3–8. We make narrative books on safety, courage, and growing up confident — stories children want to read again, written by people who have spent careers helping children stay safe.
About the press
Growing Brave Press was founded in 2026 to publish a particular kind of children's book: one where the safeguarding lessons sit inside a real story, rather than next to one. Most books in this corner of children's publishing are short educational chapbooks. We make picture books — proper ones, with characters, plot, and the kind of warmth that earns a second reading at bedtime.
Our editorial focus is the territory where child safety meets emotional literacy: trusted adults, body autonomy, online safety, asking for help, naming feelings. Topics that most children's-book lists either avoid or handle clinically. We think the answer is to write them as story.
The imprint is small by design. We publish two to three titles a year and we work closely with each author and illustrator to make books that hold up to the standards children's librarians, parents, and child-protection professionals expect.
Our first book
Questions people ask
- What is Sofia's Safe Circle about?
- Sofia learns to name the trusted adults she can turn to when something feels wrong, and finds that speaking up makes her stronger. The safeguarding lesson sits inside the story rather than beside it.
- What age is it for?
- Children aged 4 to 7, read together with a parent, carer, or teacher.
- When is it published?
- In the first half of 2027, as a paperback picture book. Leave your email below and we will write once, on the day it goes on sale.
- Who wrote and illustrated it?
- Written by Maryam Ehsani, a child-protection professional with 15+ years in safeguarding, and illustrated by Rhiannon Thomas.
Be told when it's out.
The book is published in the first half of 2027. Leave your email and we'll write once — on the day Sofia's Safe Circle goes on sale. No other emails, no list shared with anyone.
About the founder
Growing Brave Press was founded by Maryam Ehsani, a child-protection professional with 15+ years in safeguarding, advocacy, and education. She is a board member of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), the founder of Child Safe ME, and the host of the podcast Let's Talk with Maryam Ehsani. She lives in the United Arab Emirates. Sofia's Safe Circle is her first book.
Contact
For rights, reviews, and review copies: hello@growingbravepress.com
For author enquiries: see maryam-ehsani.com.
Submissions: the press is not currently open to outside submissions.