Control Tower Kids:
The Case of the Missing Cargo
Different thinkers. Different strengths.
One very important mystery. I wanted to create a story in which children could recognize themselves—not because a character shared their diagnosis, but because they recognized the way that character thinks.
Some children think step by step.
Others have ideas flying in from every direction.
Some notice details everyone else misses.
Some see connections long before anyone around them does.
And some have wonderful ideas but need a little help figuring out where to begin.
None of those ways of thinking is the “right” one. That idea became the starting point for Control Tower Kids.
Why I Wrote This Book
Much of my work has focused on helping adults understand how children think. But I wanted children to have that same opportunity. I especially wanted a strengths-based way to talk about differences. Children are very good at noticing who finishes first, who remembers everything, who needs help, who gets distracted, and who always seems to have the answer. It doesn't take long for those differences to become judgments: smart, slow, organized, scattered, good at school, bad at school.
But those labels miss so much.
What if, instead, we could help children become curious about how their minds work?
What if they could recognize their own strengths while also understanding why something that's easy for a friend can be difficult for them—and vice versa?
And what if we could do all of that inside a really good story?
That's what I wanted Control Tower Kids to do.
Why a Mystery?
I didn't want to write a children's textbook disguised as a story. Kids ages 8–11 deserve an actual adventure. So The Case of the Missing Cargo became a mystery—a problem that a group of children has to solve together. Along the way, their different ways of approaching the problem become part of the story.
The important discovery isn't that one child has the “best” brain for solving the mystery. They need one another. A way of thinking that creates a challenge in one situation can become exactly the strength the team needs in another. That's a message I want children to carry well beyond the last page.
Introducing the Control Tower
The story also gives children an accessible introduction to The Control Tower Model™—a way of understanding the mental systems that help us organize our ideas and turn them into action. Rather than beginning with terminology and definitions, children encounter these ideas through characters, choices, challenges, and consequences. They get to see different minds at work. And that opens the door for conversations about executive functioning, attention, organization, problem-solving, and thinking styles without beginning with what's “wrong.”
More Than a Children's Book
The Story Is Just the Beginning.
Control Tower Kids was written for children, but it was also designed to create conversations between children and the adults in their lives. That's why The Case of the Missing Cargo is accompanied by three comprehensive guides:
FOR PARENTS: Ideas for talking about thinking styles, executive functioning, strengths, and challenges at home.
FOR TEACHERS: Activities and discussion tools for bringing the concepts into the classroom and helping students appreciate different ways of thinking and learning.
FOR THERAPISTS: Resources for using the characters, story, and Control Tower concepts to support conversations with children in clinical work.What I Hope Kids Take AwayThis is where I think the page should become especially personal.
I hope children finish this story wondering about their own minds:
How do I think?
What am I really good at?
What makes some things harder for me?
Who thinks differently from me—and what can we learn from each other?
Most of all, I want them to understand that needing support in one area doesn't erase their strengths in another. Different brains bring different things to the table. Learning how your own mind works is not about deciding what's wrong with you. It's about discovering how to use what you have.
Every brain brings something to the team.