Published: December 15, 2025

Every story begins somewhere. Sometimes it begins with a squirrel staring across a busy road at the most delicious nut tree he has ever seen. Sometimes it begins with a tiny ant who dreams of something bigger than the world beneath her feet. And sometimes it begins thousands of years ago, with a young shepherd facing a giant, a courageous queen standing before a king, or a man discovering that even extraordinary strength comes with responsibility.

At Monti Arieli Publishing, we believe these stories have something in common: they are meant to be shared.

Shared between parents and children. Between grandparents and grandchildren. Between teachers and young readers. And, sometimes, between one generation and the next.

That belief is at the heart of everything we create. Stories Children Can Enjoy and Remember. A good children's book should first and foremost be something a child wants to hear again. And again. And possibly one more time before bed. Children naturally respond to rhythm, repetition, humor, colorful characters, and the anticipation of knowing what comes next. That is one reason rhyme plays such an important role in many of our books. Rhyming stories are fun to read aloud. They invite children to participate, predict the next word, remember favorite lines, and become part of the storytelling experience. But underneath the rhyme, adventure, and illustrations, our stories often carry something more. A lesson about courage. A reminder to be careful. An invitation to dream. A question about right and wrong. Or perhaps simply the reassurance that being small does not mean being powerless. We want those ideas to emerge naturally from the story, not feel like a lecture. Children are remarkably good at discovering meaning for themselves when we give them a story worth thinking about.

Adventures with Something to Say

Some Monti Arieli Publishing books begin with the everyday world children already know.

Everyone knows the old joke: "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

But what happens when it is a squirrel?

In Jerry the Squirrel and the Great Nut Adventure, Jerry spots the most delicious nut tree he has ever seen on the other side of a busy road. Naturally, he wants to get there. But before Jerry can reach those wonderful nuts, he has to figure out how to cross safely.

What begins as a playful adventure becomes an entertaining way for young children to learn something very practical: how to stop, look, listen, and cross a street safely.

And unlike the chicken, Jerry has a very good reason for crossing the road.

Dorna, the Dreaming Ant, begins from an entirely different place. Dorna looks beyond the ordinary life expected of her and wonders what else might be possible. Her journey celebrates curiosity, courage, imagination, and the willingness to explore beyond familiar boundaries.

These are playful stories, but they also reflect something we believe deeply: some of the lessons children remember best are the ones they discover while enjoying themselves.

Bringing Bible Stories to a New Generation

Another important part of Monti Arieli Publishing is our collection of rhyming Bible stories for children. The Bible contains some of the most enduring stories ever told. They are filled with courage, danger, loyalty, mistakes, faith, jealousy, hope, and extraordinary human choices. Yet introducing these stories to very young readers presents an interesting challenge. How do you remain respectful of an ancient story while making it approachable for a child? How do you simplify without removing everything that makes the story meaningful? How do you help children see these figures as people, not just names from long ago?

Our Rhyming Bible Series grew from those questions. Stories such as David and Goliath, Samson and Delilah, and Queen Esther and Mordecai are retold through accessible rhyme and expressive illustrations designed to invite children into the story. David is not interesting simply because he defeats a giant. He is interesting because he walks toward something everyone else fears. Esther's story is not memorable simply because she becomes queen. Her courage matters because she must decide whether to speak, even when staying silent would be easier. And Samson's extraordinary strength becomes part of a larger story about choices, trust, weakness, and consequence. These ancient stories have survived for generations because every generation finds something new within them. We hope to help children begin that relationship early.

The Illustration Is Part of the Story

For a young child, the pictures are not decorations surrounding the words. They are part of the book's language. An expression on a character's face can tell a child something the text never says. A distant castle, a frightened animal, a glowing sunset, or a tiny detail hidden in the corner of a page can create another layer of storytelling. That is why the visual character of our books matters so much to us. We want our illustrated children's books to feel warm, inviting, expressive, and full of details that encourage children to linger on the page. A book should reward the second reading and the tenth reading, not only the first.

More Than a Story: Coloring, Exploring, and Returning Again

Every Monti Arieli Publishing children's book is intentionally designed to go beyond the final page. That is why each book includes a coloring section. Children may love hearing a favorite story again and again, but some days they don't feel like listening to it one more time. That does not mean the book has to go back on the shelf. Instead, the crayons can come out. Coloring gives children another way to return to the same characters, scenes, and ideas. They can revisit a favorite character, choose their own colors, remember what happened in a particular scene, and make the book part of their own. That changes the relationship between child and book. The book becomes more than something that is read to them. It becomes something they interact with. Coloring also encourages children to slow down and notice details they may have passed over during the story. A scene that lasted only a few seconds while reading can become fifteen minutes of concentration, conversation, imagination, and creative play. And after the coloring is finished? The story is still there, ready to be read again.

We want our books to invite children back again and again and again, even when each return looks a little different.

Helping Parents and Teachers Get More from the Story

Every children's book we publish also includes a Parent and Teacher Guide. The reason is simple: a story can open a door, but an engaged adult can help a child walk through it. Our guides help parents, grandparents, teachers, and caregivers make the most of the ideas already in the book. Depending on the story, that might mean talking about courage, imagination, safety, responsibility, friendship, choices, faith, or perseverance. The goal is not to turn story time into a classroom lesson. Quite the opposite. A simple question such as "What would you have done?" or "Why do you think the character felt that way?" can turn a few minutes of reading into a meaningful conversation. The Parent and Teacher Guides offer suggestions, discussion ideas, and ways to extend the experience so adults don't have to invent everything themselves. Sometimes a child will surprise us with what they noticed. Often, that is where the most interesting part of the book begins.

Books Made for Reading Together

There is something wonderfully simple about sitting beside a child and opening a book. For a few minutes, the distractions outside disappear. A voice tells the story, a child listens, pictures are explored, questions are asked, and perhaps a little laughter comes when the same favorite page appears again. And when the reading is over, the experience does not necessarily have to end. The crayons can come out. A favorite picture can be colored. A question from the Parent and Teacher Guide can lead to a conversation. A scene can be remembered, discussed, or acted out. Those moments are part of why we publish. Technology will continue to change the way children encounter stories, but we believe there will always be something special about a book held between two people. A story can entertain a child for a few minutes. A story they can read, explore, color, discuss, and return to can become part of their childhood.

Welcome to Monti Arieli Publishing

This blog will be another place for us to share those stories. In the months ahead, we will go behind the scenes of our books, explore the ideas that inspired them, talk about children and reading, look more closely at the great Bible stories we retell, and occasionally open the door into the process of creating and illustrating a children's book. We will also explore ways parents and teachers can use storytelling, illustration, conversation, and creative activities to help children get even more from the books they read. Most of all, we hope this becomes a place for people who believe stories still matter. Because a good story does more than fill a page. It travels from one person to another. From one imagination to another. And sometimes, from one generation to the next.

Welcome to Monti Arieli Publishing.

Stories made to be shared.