The Bloom Umbrella Press

Books and resources.

Books and learning resources

Books, stories and toolsmade to travel with you.

Explore growing collections from The Bloom Umbrella Press and the three pathways. Availability is shown clearly so you can choose what is ready now and see what is taking root next.

Raising AVIGALO cover: a gamer in a room with a green plant, looking through an open window toward a road ahead

THE BLOOM UMBRELLA PRESS • ILLUSTRATED GUIDED JOURNAL

Raising AVIGALO™

Respawn. Reframe. Rise.

A Guided Journal for Gamers Exploring Voice, Belonging, and Opportunity
By Janepher Otieno

You are more than the label. Your next step can start here. Gaming can offer connection, challenge, creativity, and relief. You may also want a more workable routine, clearer communication, stronger skills, or a way into learning, work, and community.

Eight quests explore Survival → Stability → Success → Significance with reflection prompts, practical tools, worked examples, and space to discover what helps you move forward. You do not have to earn your place only through productivity.

  • Strengths and allies: Recognize your qualities, identify support, and rehearse asking for help with a short conversation script.
  • Energy and transitions: Notice body signals with a simple body outline, explore the Tula Pause™, and sketch current activity → pause → next activity.
  • Skills and next steps: Explore how gaming skills might transfer to other settings, compare two options, and choose one small experiment.
  • Voice, boundaries, and contribution: Practice communicating your needs and contributing in ways that fit your capacity.
  • Optional Move Forward challenges: Choose practical actions at the end of each quest to turn reflection into follow-through.

Designed for choice and privacy. You decide what to keep private and what to share. Write, draw, use a separate notes app, or talk things through.

The Supporter Companion helps parents, mentors, and allies listen, respect privacy, and co-plan without taking over. Guidance on finding community, education, employment, and professional support offers a starting point when you need more than a journal can provide.

Paperback
96 pages • 7 × 10 inches
ISBN 978-1-0680255-4-9
Digital Reading Edition
Reflowable EPUB with adjustable text, linked contents, and illustrations. Complete activities in a separate notebook or notes app; this edition is not fillable.

Digital Reading Edition available now. Purchase the EPUB in our central shop. The paperback is available on Amazon.

Respect for who you are. Support for where you want to go.

The Original Bloom-a-Bean Story by Janepher Otieno: mother and children tending beans, with a red and gold ribbon

BLOOM-A-BEAN™ FINANCIAL EDUCATION SERIES · THE FOUNDATIONAL STORY

The Original Bloom-a-Bean™ Story

Helping Children, Youth and Young Adults Build a Healthy Relationship with Money
By Janepher Otieno · The Bloom Umbrella Press

One can of beans. A lifetime of possibility.

Janepher wanted dinner. Her mother planted the beans for a future harvest. What grew became more than food: a lesson in patience, care and the potential hidden in small beginnings.

This origin story and conversation companion turns that childhood memory into a shared learning journey for ages 3–21. Start with the story that seeded the series, then choose the pathway that fits your learner.

  • The original story and seven lessons.
  • Five age-specific pathways: 3–5, 6–9, 10–13, 14–17 and 18–21.
  • TULA Pause™ decision practice, illustrated activities and practical next steps.
  • A Bean Circle guide for families, classrooms and community groups.

Available in paperback and Kindle editions.

Paperback: 32 full-colour pages. Kindle: illustrated reflowable reading edition; use a separate notebook for responses. The Kindle edition is not a fillable workbook or a printable PDF.

Explore the bookPaperback on Amazon.caKindle on Amazon.ca

The Original Bloom-a-Bean Story — Copies & Group Use

Read or listen to the original story free →

Grow a conversation. Plant a possibility.

BLOOM-A-BEAN™ • AGES 6–9 • BY JANEPHER OTIENO

Grow money confidence.One thoughtful choice at a time.

The Money Garden™ pairs a child’s workbook with a Parent & Facilitator Guide for a 12-week journey through saving, spending, planning, generosity, and everyday decisions. Explore together at home, in a classroom, or with a community learning group.

Approved cover of The Money Garden Workbook 2, ages 6–9, by Janepher Otieno

The Money Garden™: Workbook 2

Story, drawing, rhymes, Money Missions™, and the Tula Pause™ make room for curiosity, conversation, and practice. Children plant a saving goal and explore how small choices grow over time.

Paperback · Current price on Amazon.ca

Find the workbook on Amazon ↗
Approved cover of the Bloom-A-Bean Parent and Facilitator Guide, Workbook 2: The Money Garden, ages 6–9, by Janepher Otieno

Parent & Facilitator Guide

The companion to Workbook 2 helps parents, teachers, caregivers, and community facilitators guide money conversations with clear prompts and practical activities. Support thoughtful choices at a pace that fits your learners.

Paperback · Current price on Amazon.ca

Find the guide on Amazon ↗

FOR SCHOOLS, LIBRARIES & COMMUNITIES

Bring The Money Garden™ to your learners.

Schools, homeschool groups, libraries, community organizations, and family programs are invited to purchase the workbook and companion guide for classroom learning, parent–child sessions, reading groups, and community money conversations.

Start with a workbook for each child and a guide for the supporting adult. Ask us about classroom sets, group purchases, facilitated sessions, or a workshop suited to your setting. Any group pricing or reproduction permissions are agreed separately.

Prefer PDF + EPUB? Shop the digital editions →

BLOOM-A-BEAN™ FINANCIAL EDUCATION · AGES 3–21

Grow wise. Choose well. Help others bloom.

Plant a bean, start a money box, and practise pausing before choosing. Bloom-A-Bean turns everyday money moments into a 12-week learning journey through saving, sharing, waiting, and needs versus wants.

Learning that grows with the learner

Meet Bloom the Bunny, Sunny the Seedling, and Tula the Turtle. Their stories and the Tula Pause™ give younger learners a memorable way to slow down and consider a choice.

Trauma-informed. Educationally sound. Created by nurse educator and author Janepher Otieno, the activities connect money concepts with everyday experiences and supported practice—without shame, pressure, or comparison. Families bring different resources and experiences; learners can participate at their own pace.

Start with Workbook 1, ages 3–5, and explore its companion Parent & Facilitator Guide. Workbook 2: The Money Garden supports ages 6–9. Check the stage pages for current formats and availability.

Growing toward independence and youth leadership

Later stages for ages 10–21 are planned. Alongside parent and facilitator guides, planned peer-learning and mentorship editions will support older youth to self-lead, collaborate, and build financial confidence in peer-led teams.

Use the local coins and currency familiar to your learners when discussing saving and spending.

Bring Bloom-A-Bean to your learning community

Financial learning for classrooms, families, and community programs.

Learner workbooks and companion Parent & Facilitator Guides help teachers, schools, homeschool networks, and community organizations guide learning with confidence.

Explore licensing for your setting

  • Classroom use: Resources for a class or learning group.
  • School and organizational use: Delivery across multiple classes, groups, or locations.
  • Reproduction permissions: Permission to print or copy selected learning materials within an agreed licence.

Tell us about your learners, group size, and setting so we can discuss suitable resources and permissions.

Bloom-A-Bean — School & Group Licensing

Please provide group information only, without individual learners’ names or sensitive details.

Enquiries go to The Bloom Umbrella at hello@thebloomumbrella.com. Licensing permissions are confirmed in writing. Purchasing a book or digital download does not automatically include permission to reproduce or distribute it.

KOFI GROWS FROM MISTAKES™

Kofi and the Shiny Seeds

A gentle early-years story about choices, feelings, repair, and the courage to grow again—the first of 15 planned titles in the series.

BLOOM-UNBOUND™

Journals for reflection and return

Trauma-informed writing and reflection resources that honor voice, pacing, identity, and wholeness.

BLOOM-UNBOUND™ • SELECTED READING

The Songbird and the Weaver

Two independent titles by Liora Almas exploring coercive control, relational influence, voice, agency, and the restoration of self-trust.

The Songbird and the Weaver reflective framework held the #1 position in Amazon.ca’s Hot New Releases for Domestic Partner Abuse for several days. Its allegory companion reached #2 twice and #3 twice in the same category.