Kaizen for Kids · Six picture books · Ages 4 to 8
Small steps create big change.
Six woodland friends in yellow hard hats, one real problem at a time. Picture books that teach kids how to see, from the author of The Hall Discipline.
How the Crew works
Nobody in the Whispering Woods gets lectured. Michi the owl asks one question, "What problem do you see?", and the Crew works it out one small step at a time.The grown-ups reading along usually see it a page before the kids do. That is the point.
The series
Each book hands the hard hat to a different member of the Crew and gives them one real problem. The lesson is never announced. It is discovered, the way it is on a real floor.
Book 1
A Kaizen Crew Adventure in the Treehouse
5SRasky brings home buttons, stones and feathers until the treehouse buries him. One friend at a time, the Crew shows him Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. And a sixth secret: Safety.
Coming soon
Book 2
A Kaizen Crew Adventure in Plan, Do, Check, Act
Plan, Do, Check, ActThe bridge washes out before the Lantern Festival. Molly has a clipboard and a plan, and she learns that a plan you check beats a plan you hope.
Coming soon
Book 3
A Kaizen Crew Adventure Up the Creek
The Five WhysThe meadow floods again the morning after the Crew cleaned it up. Tito walks upstream asking why, five times, until he finds the cause instead of the puddle.
Coming soon
Book 4
A Kaizen Crew Adventure in Standard Work
Standard WorkEvery batch of honey cakes comes out different. Bootsy learns that writing the recipe down, and following it the same way every time, is how the good ones stop being luck.
Coming soon
Book 5
A Kaizen Crew Adventure in Just in Time
Just in TimeThe Harvest Fair needs berries, and the smallest member of the Crew learns to bring what is needed, when it is needed, and not a basket more.
Coming soon
Book 6
A Kaizen Crew Adventure in the Seven Wastes
The Seven WastesBenny works harder than anyone and still cannot fill the winter pantry. The Crew helps him see the seven wastes hiding in his routes, his shelves and his basket.
Coming soon
Meet the Crew
Every member has a job, and every job is a piece of the discipline. Together they are the whole thing.
Wise Mentor
Asks the question. Never gives the answer.
Curious Guardian
Collects everything. Learns to keep what matters.
Planner
Clipboard, tape measure, a place for everything.
Steady Builder
Slow on purpose. Writes it down so it stays done.
Sparkle & Cheer
Same recipe, same way, every time.
Sharp Eyes
Tiny. Sees what the big ones walk past.
Strong & Kind
Four bins: Keep, Fix, Donate, Trash.
Safety
The sixth S. First-aid kit always packed.
Steady Heart
Keeps it going after everyone else moves on.
Builder Beaver
If it needs building or fixing, it is his.
New Guardian
Shy, new, and earning the hard hat.
For parents and teachers
These books come from nearly thirty years of fixing real factories, and from a simple observation: the things that make a plant run, seeing clearly, putting things where they belong, asking why, doing it the same way every time, are the same things a six-year-old can learn in a treehouse.
The crew never lectures. Children in the room usually have the answer before the character does, and that is the moment the book is built for.
You read it together. Then you go find one small thing to make better. That is the whole method.
Inside every book
Coming soon
The books are in their last round of fixes. Leave your email and you get one message the day the first one is on Amazon. That is all it is for.
We respect your inbox. Your email goes on this list and nowhere else. Unsubscribe anytime.
For the grown-ups' own floor
The same discipline, written for the people who run production lines, factories and businesses: The Hall Discipline, Volume I, and A Redneck's Guide to Kaizen, both out now.
Back to The Hall Discipline