There’s more to these stories than meets the tail.

On the surface, Pip’s adventures are playful, silly, and filled with mischief.
But beneath the laughter lives something deeper — a quiet philosophy.

These books are crafted to help children explore complex ideas with joy, honesty, and emotional safety.
And they’re designed to spark big conversations — with ourselves, and with our children.

Here, you’ll find the real-world truths, research, and reflections that inspired each story.

Author of Oops and Wonder Children's Picture Book Series

The first book in the series is Pip’s Sweet Escape. I wrote this story because I’m fascinated — and deeply concerned — by the ways we’re taught to celebrate with what often harms us.
As someone obsessed with physical and emotional health, I wanted to give children a gentle way to start seeing through the noise — and back to their own inner compass.

Pip is me, in many ways — full of questions, drawn to wonder, and learning how to choose better, one “oops” at a time.

— Alexandra Osbourne, The Series Creator

Book 1: Pip’s Sweet Escape

Pip the squirrel with satchel – picture book character
Pip's Sweet Escape - the first book in the Oops and Wonder children picture book series

Theme:

Cravings, health, and food marketing deception

What It Teaches:

Self-awareness, choice, intuitive health, truth-seeking

Pip’s escape from the Sugar Goblin may seem like a wild chase through fruit forests and sticky traps...
But it’s actually a confrontation with one of the most powerful forces shaping our lives: persuasion dressed as pleasure.

Children are constantly told that celebration means sugar, that love comes with icing, and that happiness can be bought in a wrapper.
But what happens when those “treats” begin to trick the body and mind?

This story gently invites children to notice — not fear — and to begin asking their own questions about what feels right in their body.

The Thinking Thread

  • Theme: Influence, manipulation, and the ethics of intent

    Pip’s escape from the Sugar Goblin isn’t just a silly chase — it’s a confrontation with the machines of persuasion.
    The Goblin isn’t a villain with fangs — he’s charming, clever, and well-packaged.
    He’s marketing.
    And that’s what makes him dangerous.

    From birthday cakes to cereal mascots, we’ve created a world where children are taught that what harms them is how they are loved.
    That treats mean sugar, that celebration means excess, that colour means fun — even when it's laced with addiction and illness.

    But this isn’t just about food. It’s about how ideas are sold, and who gets to sell them.

  • Theme: Influence, manipulation, and the ethics of intent

    Pip’s escape from the Sugar Goblin isn’t just a silly chase — it’s a confrontation with the machines of persuasion.
    The Goblin isn’t a villain with fangs — he’s charming, clever, and well-packaged.
    He’s marketing.
    And that’s what makes him dangerous.

    From birthday cakes to cereal mascots, we’ve created a world where children are taught that what harms them is how they are loved.
    That treats mean sugar, that celebration means excess, that colour means fun — even when it's laced with addiction and illness.

    But this isn’t just about food. It’s about how ideas are sold, and who gets to sell them.

  • Is persuasion unethical?
    Not always.
    But what is the motive?
    Who profits from the story being told?

    Dale Carnegie’s classic How to Win Friends and Influence People teaches techniques of persuasion that work — but without a discussion of intent, influence becomes manipulation.
    The question isn’t “Can I make them agree?”
    It’s “Should I?”

    We live in systems designed to sell — not to serve.
    And the closer we look, the more we find that the world’s largest corporations are structured like sociopaths:
    no empathy, no remorse, no accountability — only profit.

    So what do we teach our children?

    Pip isn’t just escaping sugar.
    He’s learning to see past the sparkle — to ask why things are sold the way they are.
    To pause. To choose.

These Aren’t Just Stories.

They’re mirrors. They’re questions. They’re quiet invitations to see the world — and ourselves — more clearly.
With Pip, we don’t preach. We wonder. We learn. We notice.
And we start again.

If you’d like tools to keep the conversation going — or simply to explore more of what lives in Pip’s satchel —
→ Visit the Treasures page

Or if something in these stories has stirred a question, reflection, or spark in you —
→ Reach out. I’d love to hear