When single mum Charlotte Kimberley went looking for bedtime stories that reflected life with her four-year-old daughter, she found plenty of books explaining separation and different family structures – but very few in which a one-parent family simply got on with the ordinary magic of childhood.
So she decided to create them herself.
Alongside her full-time role as a Transformation Manager, Charlotte has spent the last year building Just You and Me, a children’s book collection celebrating the everyday adventures, milestones and rituals shared by a mum and her daughter. The stories range from treasure hunts and getting ready, to camping, starting primary school and now Halloween, with a Christmas title to follow later in 2026.
The idea was never to make single parenthood the storyline. Instead, Charlotte wanted children from one-parent homes to see families like theirs naturally represented in warm, joyful stories – without their family structure needing to be explained.
“I wasn’t searching for stories about separation or explaining why our family looked different,” says Charlotte. “I simply wanted joyful, beautifully illustrated books where a single-parent family was just… normal. When I couldn’t find them, I decided to create them myself.”
The response from families and educators has encouraged Charlotte to keep expanding the collection. Since the first books were published earlier this year, she has received messages from parents, grandparents, teachers and Early Years professionals saying they had been looking for books like these.
Charlotte says messages from parents telling her, “These are the books we needed,” have been among the most meaningful parts of the project.
With around 3.3 million children in the UK living in single-parent families, Charlotte hopes the collection can contribute to a wider kind of representation: not stories in which family difference is the lesson, but stories in which children simply recognise their own lives on the page.
From the school gates to Halloween: the next chapter for Just You and Me
The recent launch of The Big School One was warmly received by parents and schools alike. Following a little girl as she prepares for and experiences her first day at primary school, the story captures the excitement, nerves, preparation and quieter emotional moments surrounding the milestone – for children and parents.
Alongside the book, Charlotte has been working with Early Years educators on free classroom resources and has launched a class letter exchange with primary schools. Through the project, classes can write to the characters from the Just You and Me stories and receive correspondence back, turning reading and writing into something children can participate in beyond the pages of the books.
Now the collection is moving into autumn with The Halloween Party One, launching this September. Created especially with younger children in mind, it captures the excitement of Halloween without making it frightening: choosing costumes, getting the house ready, welcoming friends, party games and the delicious anticipation of an evening that feels just a little bit magical.
Like the other books in the collection, The Halloween Party One centres on the relationship between a mum and her young daughter. The family happens to be a one-parent family, but that is never the plot. Instead, the story gives children a cosy, recognisable Halloween adventure in which their own kind of family can simply exist at the centre of the fun.
The book also continues the collection’s playful visual details, with little things for children to spot and moments of imagination woven through the illustrations – designed to make it a story families can return to throughout the Halloween season.
“Halloween is such a huge event when you’re little – the costume, the decorations, having friends over and being allowed to stay up when it’s dark outside,” says Charlotte. “I wanted to capture all of that excitement in a story that still feels warm and safe enough for younger children. And, as with every Just You and Me book, the family at the heart of it is simply getting on with making memories together.”
The Halloween Party One will be followed by The Christmas Tree One later this year, continuing Charlotte’s aim to build a collection that follows children through familiar seasons, milestones and ordinary family adventures.
“My hope is that children growing up in single-parent families can see families like theirs in everyday stories – not because they’re different, but because they’re beautifully ordinary too.”
