Welcome to the City of Creativity
Where children discover that their ideas can change the world — one story at a time.
Explore the city, collect passport stamps, and write a book of your own for the Global Library.
Who's exploring today?
There's a path for everyone who walks through the city gates.
Young creators
Get your passport, visit every corner of the city, and write a story that's all yours.
Get your passport →Parents & caregivers
Free writing activities, at-home literacy kits, and a free published eBook of your child's story.
Visit the PTA →Educators
Bring a standards-aligned reading, writing, and civic-action program to your school. Title I schools can join free.
Visit the Teachers' Lounge →Donors & partners
$300 sponsors one Youth Ambassador — their Capitol trip, meals, awards, and a published book.
Sponsor an Ambassador →Step inside the story
Enter the City of Creativity
A world of places to explore, people to meet, and stories waiting to be made. Every place has a guide, so even our youngest visitors can follow along.
Your next adventure
Read. Learn. Write. Illustrate.
Every child can find a place to begin — and a pathway to creating something of their own.
01The Global Library
Discover stories written by children. Find a book, meet new characters, and explore the power of reading.
Enter the Library →
02Idea Academy
Visit imaginative classrooms where reading, writing, science, art, and more become learning adventures.
Explore Idea Academy →
03Storybook Workshop
Turn an idea into characters, a setting, and a story that's uniquely yours. Create at your own pace.
Begin Your Story →
04Illustrator's Cove
Bring stories to life with pictures, colors, and imagination. Make artwork that helps your ideas shine.
Start Illustrating →From idea to impact
Your story deserves to be heard.
Every child can write and illustrate their own stories. With a parent or guardian's permission, finished work is shared as a free digital book in the Global Library, for children everywhere to read.
- 1Catch an idea
- 2Write and illustrate
- 3A grown-up says yes
- 4Publish it, free
Young authors. Real civic voices.
Students read and research what matters to them, write civic proclamations, learn from their lawmakers, and publish a book of their own. Our Ambassadors have visited the Missouri Capitol, where Rep. Mark Sharp introduced them on the House floor.
Read it. Research it. Proclaim it. Publish it.
“Creativity is better than video games!”
Spring 2027 cohorts begin in February · Always free for families
Built for imagination. Guided by care.
Free creative access
Children can read, create, and publish digital stories with no publishing fee.
Grown-ups are partners
A parent or guardian approves any public sharing. Author names stay first name and last initial, or a pen name.
Learning with purpose
Activities connect literacy and creative expression, aligned to learning standards.
Some of our past and current partners include
- Hickman Mills School District
- Northeast Middle School
- Providence School of Arts
- Caring for Kids
- University of Missouri
- Missouri Afterschool Network
- Cave Spring Park
Take a little piece of the story home.
Reading and digital creation stay free. Families who want something they can hold can find books and optional keepsakes in the Bookshop.
Your adventure starts here
What will your ideas make possible?
The next story could begin with you.
