Loved by little engineers — and the grown-ups who read to them. Also orderable at your favorite local bookstore.
Loved by little engineers — and the grown-ups who read to them. Also orderable at your favorite local bookstore.
A little peek at where Piglet Train’s journey begins — back when the tracks still felt safe and familiar, before the day everything changed.
Piglet Train is the smallest engine on the line — and today the route runs straight through the longest tunnel on the map. This is a story for every child who has ever stood at the edge of something scary and wondered if they were brave enough. (Spoiler: they are.)
No lectures, no lessons bolted on. Children ride alongside Piglet Train and feel the fear shrink as the chuffing grows steadier — learning that brave isn't "not scared," it's "scared and rolling forward anyway."
Rhythmic, chuggable language that begs to be read out loud at bedtime. Repeating refrains invite little ones to join in — because the best stories are the ones you tell together.
Every Story Trains book is a doorway to a talk that matters. The Long Tunnel opens gentle conversations about fear, darkness, and what helps us through — at your child's pace.
We're not a brand. We're Dave Goetsch, Ross Venokur and Jason Venokur. Between us we've spent decades making television and movies — the kind with deadlines and the occasional shiny award — and somewhere in there we got happily outnumbered by our own kids. Which means we've also logged plenty of hours on the other end of the couch, watching what gets made for them: the loud stuff, the frantic stuff, the stuff that lights up their little faces while quietly melting their little brains. We got tired of it. So we did the one thing we actually know how to do — we made something better. We won't put anything on your screen we wouldn't put on ours.
Every Story Trains adventure carries something real: courage, kindness, patience, resilience. Children don't board for the lesson — they board for the ride. The lesson comes along for free.
We design for the grown-up and the child together. Shared reading builds language, empathy, and security — the page is just the place where that happens.
Fear, worry, frustration — kids feel it all. Our stories give those feelings a safe place to be seen, named, and worked through, one gentle chapter at a time.
Three dads with good instincts is a nice start. But we wanted to be sure. So we brought in Beth Richman — Harvard-trained, and one of the researchers behind the work that made Sesame Street into Sesame Street. For two decades she's helped the shows you already trust — Sesame, the Fred Rogers folks, PBS — keep the fun stuff and the good stuff as the same stuff. With Beth, we built a quiet little curriculum and tucked it inside every story. So when your child rides along with a nervous Piglet Train through a long, dark tunnel, they're not getting a lecture — they're learning to name a big feeling, try a brave thing, and chug gently forward when the world feels too big. And they'll never once notice they're learning anything.
We're a small studio, and we build by listening. If Piglet Train, the Long Tunnel, or The Story Trains caught your eye, we'd love a short, friendly 15-minute chat about what drew you in — what you look for in books for your kids, what resonated, what didn't. You'll be directly shaping the next stories on the line.
No sales pitch, nothing to buy — just a conversation between people who care about kids' stories and people who care about their kids. We read every message ourselves.
Little extras for the journey — wear the words that matter most.
Our Pooh-Bear-Train, rolling along with honey on board. A soft, everyday reminder — for kids and grown-ups — that kindness is something you are, not just something you do.
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Piglet Train himself, fresh from the Long Tunnel. For every little engineer who learned that brave isn't "not scared" — it's scared and rolling forward anyway.
👕 Get the shirt