Your Fantastical Fort

A story that inspires imagination and helps kids feel safe when life gets overwhelming

Forts are fun to build, and even the simplest materials--couch cushions, chairs, blankets, and cardboard boxes--can turn into sailing ships, dragon's dens, or magical castles. In Your Fantastical Fort, children discover that forts have healing power, too. Through poetic text and expressive illustrations, this book shows how forts can become quiet corners and safe spaces where kids can take time out from the real world--especially when they feel sad, disappointed, or scared. When they need quiet, they can tuck themselves inside. And when they're ready, they can invite the people who matter most to share their special world.

By celebrating imaginative play as a calming strategy and highlighting kids' natural creativity, this book offers a reassuring, heartwarming reminder that every child can build a space where they feel safe, understood, and wonderfully themselves.

Your Fantastical Fort:

• Encourages independence and resilience through creative play during moments of fear, frustration, sadness, or overwhelm
• Offers support for kids coping with difficult news or family stressors, from climate change to divorce or financial strain
• Includes a note for adults and tips for building fantastical forts at home
• Your Fantastical Fort is ideal for anyone seeking support to help children navigate big feelings.

Molly Beth Griffin is the author of many picture books including Ten Beautiful Things, Rhoda's Rock Hunt, Rings of Heartwood: Poems on Growing, Just Us, and Your Fantastical Fort. She has also authored a young adult novel, Silhouette of a Sparrow, and an early-reader series called School Sidekicks. Her books have been chosen as Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selections, Minnesota Book Award Finalists, and Star of the North nominees. Molly graduated from Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children and young adults, and she currently teaches at the Loft Literary Center. She lives in Minneapolis with her partner and two fort-building children, where she enjoys walking around lakes, taking pictures of birds, embroidering flowers, eating pastries, and waiting for the mail. Learn more at mollybethgriffin.com.

Chris Park has been a professional illustrator for over 15 years. His illustrated picture books include Touch The Sky (by Stephanie V.W. Lucianovic), So Cold (by John Coy), and Your Fantastical Fort (by Molly Beth Griffin). He has also done freelance illustration for TBS, Team Coco, Rolling Stone, American Greetings Co. and Pro Publica. Chris has published books with Rise x Penguin Workshop, Lerner, Simon & Schuster, Sleeping Bear Press, Usborne Publishing, Minnesota Historical Society Press. He earned his BFA from Ringling College of Art & Design in 2006. In his spare time, Chris enjoys skateboarding around his hometown of Minneapolis and, according to his two sons, he "builds the best forts!"