A teacher’s question,
and the world it turned into.
It began with a question: how can I make something that feels like a chore into something children genuinely want to do?
That question became Dentopia. But the ideas behind The Smilestone Saga began long before the first character was imagined or the first page was written.
They began with my fascination for how children grow, how they learn, and what helps something truly stay with them.
I earned degrees in Human Development & Family Science and Elementary Education, where I became fascinated by the development of the child’s brain. I loved learning not only what children learn, but how they come to understand it.
I studied intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, conditioning and habit formation, alternative approaches to learning, and the difference between concrete and abstract thinking.
More than anything, I became interested in the bridge between knowing something and actually wanting to do it — because children can understand that something is important and still have absolutely no interest in doing it.
That gap is where imagination can make all the difference.
Some of the most meaningful learning happens when children do not feel like they are being taught at all. You turn it into a game, make it a little silly, take a break when something stops working, change the approach, add imagination, and give them a reason to want to participate.
That does not mean removing structure. It means making the structure feel inviting enough that children want to return to it.
I believe children learn best when it feels like magic,
and that belief sits at the heart of everything I create.
Before I ever understood how children learn, I understood the pull of a story.
Growing up, I was always creating characters, writing little stories, and imagining worlds that felt almost real enough to step inside. I loved stuffed animals, tiny details, adorable things, and the quiet magic of giving something a name, a personality, and a place to belong.
As I grew older, that part of me became quieter. I followed a path centered around children, education, and development, while the world and character designer in me slowly slipped into the background.
It was my husband who reminded me that she was still there.
His encouragement brought me back to the things I had always loved: creating characters, dreaming up settings, and building worlds filled with wonder.
And little by little, the two parts of me found each other again.
The educator understood how children learn.
The storyteller knew how to make them want to step closer.
The earliest idea was to create something with the anticipation and magic of Elf on the Shelf, but built around helping parents throughout the year.
I began thinking about the things nearly every child has to do, whether they want to or not — and then I thought about brushing teeth. Even as an adult, it was never exactly my favorite part of the day, so in the spirit of writing what you know, I started there.
The question was not simply how to teach children that brushing matters, because most children already hear that. The question was how to make them care enough to participate.
The child is no longer being told what to do from the sidelines. They become part of the world itself.
The Smilestone Saga was designed using many of the ideas that first fascinated me about childhood learning. It uses story, anticipation, participation, repetition, and imagination to help an everyday routine feel different.
The child becomes the hero, the adventure continues over 19 nights, and the story only moves while the brushing does. Rather than relying on another reminder, lecture, or reward chart, the experience gives children a reason to return.
Not through pressure. Not through lectures.
But through wonder.
The Smilestone Saga is the first story world created under Hue & Co. I founded Hue & Co. to create characters, stories, and meaningful objects that bring more imagination into the everyday parts of childhood.
The vision reaches beyond one book or one routine. It includes story worlds children can return to, characters they can love beyond the page, and experiences that help important habits feel more inviting.
There will be more stories, more characters, and more worlds — but they will all begin with the same belief: the strongest habits are not always the ones children are pushed into. They are the ones they are drawn back to.
