Charlotte Is Real. Henry Is Real. And This Is Why I Wrote Them a Book.
By Andrew Signore | Brave Hearts Publishing
I work in an ICU.
I've been at the bedside when people have taken their last breath. I've held the hand of a patient who had no family in the building. I've sat across from families and tried to find words for things that don't have words — and sometimes I've found them, and sometimes I haven't.
What that job teaches you, over and over, is that time is the one thing nobody gets back.
So when my niece Charlotte was born, I didn't want to give her something that would end up in a box. I wanted to give her something she could grow into — something she'd still be able to reach for when she was seven, and twelve, and thirty-two. Something that would always be hers.
I didn't know yet that it was going to be a book.
It Started as Poetry
I started writing for Charlotte when she was very small. Not a story — just words. Lines that came when I was thinking about who I hoped she'd become. The kind of person who looks at the world and wants to understand it. Who isn't afraid to go to the edge of things. Who is brave, and kind, and curious in the way that only children can be before the world tries to talk them out of it.
The lines kept coming. They turned into verses. The verses turned into something that had a beginning and a middle and wanted to have an end.
I realized it was a story. And I realized it had to take her somewhere.
Why the Mariana Trench
I've been underwater with whale sharks. I've dived in the Socorro Islands — one of the most remote dive sites on Earth — and been in the water with manta rays and real sharks, in water so blue and so deep it doesn't feel like the same ocean that laps at the beach.
When you're underwater with something that's been on this planet for millions of years, and it's larger than you, and it doesn't care that you're there — you feel the world get very big and very honest all at once.
I wanted Charlotte to feel that. Not the fear — the scale. The understanding that the world is so much larger and stranger and more magnificent than a classroom or a screen or a backyard will ever show you.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest place on Earth. Nearly seven miles down. It has never been fully explored. Scientists are still finding species there that no one has ever named. It is one of the last true frontiers.
It felt like exactly the right place to take a little girl and her dog.
Henry Is Real Too
Charlotte's dog is named Henry. He is real. He is a good dog in the way that only certain dogs ever manage to be — loyal without condition, enthusiastic without agenda, exactly where you need him to be.
Every child deserves a Henry. And every adventure is better with one.
When I put Henry in the book, I wasn't making a narrative choice. I was just telling the truth about Charlotte's life. He goes where she goes. That's how it works.
I Didn't Know What I Was Building
Here's the thing I want to be honest about: I didn't set out to write a children's book. I didn't research a market gap or identify an underserved demographic or build a business plan.
I set out to make something for Charlotte.
When the book was finished and I started learning about the publishing world — Lexile scores, reading levels, guided reading levels, bridge books, early chapter books, the whole taxonomy of children's literacy — I discovered something interesting. The book I'd written for Charlotte fit a category called a bridge book. Short chapters. Real science. Some illustrations. The right complexity for a reader between picture books and full chapter books.
I hadn't designed it to be that. I'd written it to be something Charlotte could grow into, something that would hold her without overwhelming her, something that moved fast enough to keep her turning pages.
It turned out those were the same thing.
That's the thing about writing something true — it usually ends up being useful in ways you didn't plan.
What I've Carried Into Every Page
I'm an uncle. I'm a former camp counselor and water safety instructor who spent years watching kids ages 6–9 light up and shut down and light up again depending on what was in front of them. I'm a reader who struggled as a kid — who never seemed to find the right story, who didn't discover what reading could really be until I was an adult and the right book finally found me.
I'm a person who has stood at the top of Island Peak in the Himalayas at 20,000 feet without supplemental oxygen, looking out at a range that goes on longer than you believe anything can go. Who has hiked the original trail from Jiri to Everest Base Camp — the same trail Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary walked before roads existed in those mountains. Who has crossed ladders over crevasses and understood, in a way that the body remembers even when the mind moves on, what it means to take a step when you cannot see the bottom.
I've tried to carry all of that into these pages. Not to impress — to be honest. When Charlotte reads about the Death Zone, or the pressure at the bottom of the Challenger Deep, or the moment Hillary and Tenzing shook hands at the summit of the world, she's getting something I believe in completely. Not because I read about it. Because I went.
That's what I want for her. And for every kid who picks up this book.
Not just to be told that the world is amazing. To feel it.
What I Hope She Keeps
Charlotte is going to grow up. The world is going to try to make her smaller than she is — more cautious, more certain, less willing to be delighted by something she doesn't yet understand. That's what the world does, especially to girls, especially as they get older.
I wrote this book to get in ahead of that.
I wanted her to have, in her hands, proof that she can go anywhere. That the deepest place on Earth is knowable. That the highest mountain on Earth is climbable. That the people who got there first were ordinary humans who decided to go, and then went.
She can go too. Maybe not to the Mariana Trench. Maybe not to Everest. But somewhere. Somewhere that matters. Somewhere that requires her to be brave.
The book is called Adventures of Charlotte & Henry. She's the real Charlotte. He's the real Henry.
And every word of it is for her.
What It's Become for Everyone Else
I didn't expect the books to travel the way they have. I didn't expect to be standing in front of second graders in Boise reading about the ocean and watching their eyes go wide. I didn't expect teachers to email me about how much the kids enjoyed reading the books (and that they enjoyed them too).
But here's what I've learned: what's true for one child is usually true for many. Charlotte is only 7 months old (5/9/2026), I wanted to inspire her to be kind, brave, curious, adventurous and have some tools in her pocket to be a good human. And you know what? She isn't the only kid who needs this story. One that moves fast and takes her somewhere real - but also explains character values in a way that is digestible. She isn't the only one who needs the right book to discover that reading isn't a chore — it's a door.
If you've found your way to this site, it's probably because there's a child in your life who needs that door.
I hope we can help you find it.
Andrew Signore is a children's author, ICU nurse, and former camp counselor. The Adventures of Charlotte & Henry series was written for his niece Charlotte — and for every kid who's waiting for the right story to find them.
Find Adventures of Charlotte & Henry on Amazon →
Explore the Blogs —> I hope they help your family find a path to reading and story telling that is enjoyed by everyone.
Mariana Trench & Ocean Science for Kids
Reluctant & Struggling Readers
Reading Levels & Lexile Scores
Read Aloud & Classroom Resources
Purchase Adventures of Charlotte and Henry Books in the link below!
Adventures of Charlotte & Henry: The Mariana Trench
Adventures of Charlotte & Henry: Mount Everest
A bridge book series built for early readers ages 6–9. Real science. Real historical explorers. Real courage.
Available on Amazon and in bookstores. Search "Adventures of Charlotte and Henry" or visit BraveHeartsPublishing.com