Little LeafLibrary
Create a picture book ↗
LITTLE LEAF LIBRARY · A free, open bookshelf

A little leaf.
A world of stories.

From first sounds to first independent reads.
Find a story to share, then print it and bring it home.

Discover a story ↗
✓ Chinese & English stories✓ Free to read✓ Download & print
✳
Featured story illustration
Start with a little story today.
Let’s read ↗❧
AI picture-book studio

Love a good story? Create your own.

Bring your imagination to our picture-book creation platform.

Visit the story studio ↗Opens in a new tab
GROW WITH STORIES

Stories for every stage of growing up

Choose by age and reading confidence.

Ages are our editorial suggestions, not publisher ratings. Reading abilities vary.

A STORY FOR EVERY LITTLE READER

Find your next favorite book

Loading stories…
FROM SCREEN TO LITTLE HANDS

Make stories part of life.
Take them home, too.

Explore together on screen, or turn a few sheets of paper into a storybook of your own.

01

Find a story your child loves

Age is a starting point; interest matters most. Let children pick an illustration and describe what they see.

02

Read together, then talk

Turn pages online and switch between Chinese and English. Every book includes a conversation prompt.

03

Print the whole story with credits

Choose “Print book” in the reader. Use A4 landscape, fit to page, and disable headers and footers. You can also print the original PDF.

OPEN BOOKS, CLEAR CREDITS

Free stories. Credit where it belongs.

Each reading page records its creators, source and applicable license or public-domain declaration. Most books use CC BY; one catalogue entry carries a publisher Public Domain Mark declaration. Check the individual edition before sharing, adapting or reusing it. Site layouts and synthetic narration are described separately.

Books come from Book Dash, African Storybook / Storybooks Canada and Pratham Books. Source and language details vary by edition. Age, theme and reading prompts are editorial suggestions. Little Leaf is independent of these organizations.

YOUR READING MOMENTS

Reader feedback

The New Road

Chapansi is worried about inswa when the new road is built. But the inswa have a plan.

Suggested age: 4–6岁 · Reading level L2 · 15 illustrated pages

The New Road — original illustrated page 1, English text included

Read and listen

This book can be read page by page, heard with synthetic Voice 7 narration, downloaded and printed. Enable JavaScript for the interactive reader, or open the story pages below.

Chapansi is worried about inswa when the new road is built. But the inswa have a plan.

Read all 15 story pages
The New Road — original illustrated page 1, English text included
The New Road
The New Road — original illustrated page 2, English text included
Chapansi and her best friend Luano love collecting inswa.
The New Road — original illustrated page 3, English text included
They love to play on the Old dirt road... ...even if Mama would tsk-tsk because the stones hurt her feet.
The New Road — original illustrated page 4, English text included
One day, big cars arrive. Mama calls them Caterpillars.
The New Road — original illustrated page 5, English text included
They cover the road in black stuff. Mama calls it tar.
The New Road — original illustrated page 6, English text included
The road is smooth now. Like walking on a mattress!
The New Road — original illustrated page 7, English text included
But when Chapansi and Luano go to the road to catch inswa... .. they only catch three!
The New Road — original illustrated page 8, English text included
Chapansi used to love playing chiyato with Luano. But there are no more stones on the road to play with.
The New Road — original illustrated page 9, English text included
Chapansi is worried. what if the inswa can't breathe anymore?
The New Road — original illustrated page 10, English text included
Chapansi kicks the road!
The New Road — original illustrated page 11, English text included
Chapansi goes to Mama. "Don’t be sad, my child. Inswa will always find a way out," she says.
The New Road — original illustrated page 12, English text included
One rainy day, Luano comes running to Chapansi’s house. "Inswa is back!"
The New Road — original illustrated page 13, English text included
Inswa is back! It defeated the road! Mama was right after all!
The New Road — original illustrated page 14, English text included
The New Road — original illustrated page 15, English text included

Creators and open license

Written by
Fiske Nyirongo
Illustrated by
Nicodemus Silingo
Created by
Nicodemus Silingo (Illustrator); Murray Hunter (Designer); Fiske Nyirongo (Writer); Margot Bertelsmann (Editor)

Source: Book Dash
Original: The New Road from Book Dash
License: CC BY 4.0

Original illustrated spreads and embedded English story text preserved; website layout and printable PDF assembled by Little Leaf. Age, level, theme and recommendation are editorial suggestions. Web and printable layout adapted by Little Leaf. Age and reading-level suggestions are editorial. Original stories and artwork belong to their credited creators. Website narration uses the selected synthetic Voice 7.