What it had to solve
The Young Carers Illustrations Project wanted a free book for the youngest young carers, following Ana Graça’s first title Young Carers in Bunnyland.
The idea
A space adventure starring six-year-old carer Honey and her autistic brother Pip — young carers as heroes, co-written in workshops with young carers.
How it works
Workshops with young carers from Kingston Carers Network, Imago and Enfield Carers shaped the story; Ana Graça drew and digitally painted 28 pages; Ex Why Zed printed it as a 210mm square stapled booklet, distributed free via councils, charities and carers groups with Carers Trust support.
What it did
First book about young carers read on CBeebies Bedtime Stories (25 May 2026, read by Natalie Cassidy); the YouTube reading passed 2.5 million views by October 2026; translated into Japanese; highlighted as good practice by the Local Government Association.
Background
Young Carers in Space is a square picture book by Ana Graça for the Young Carers Illustrations Project, made for primary-school-age children who help look after someone at home. Its heroine, six-year-old Honey, cares for her autistic brother Pip until the pair travel to a magical planet where children’s voices are heard — on the CBeebies sofa, a badge on the teddy bear reading Your Voice Matters carries the theme in three words. The story was shaped in workshops with young carers from Kingston Carers Network, Imago and Enfield Carers.
Ex Why Zed printed it as a 210 x 210mm wire-stitched booklet with a laminated 300gsm cover built to survive years of handling, because copies are posted and given away free across the UK through councils, children’s charities and young carers groups, with support from the Carers Trust. The format and spec were settled by the project’s first book, Young Carers in Bunnyland, so a reprint takes a single email. The launch was held aboard the Golden Hinde in London on 18 October 2025.
In April 2026 the publisher learned CBeebies had chosen the book, giving about five weeks to reprint before the broadcast. On 25 May 2026, during the BBC’s Caring Matters Week, Natalie Cassidy read it on CBeebies Bedtime Stories; Imago, one of the charities involved, called it the first book about young carers ever read on the programme. The YouTube reading passed 2.5 million views by October 2026, the book was translated into Japanese, and the Local Government Association highlighted its use as good practice.
Why it lands
Young carers rarely find their own lives in picture books, so the story was built with them in workshops rather than about them.
Free distribution was the point: copies go out through councils and carers groups, so the cost per copy had to stay low.
The settled square format and spec were reused from Bunnyland, letting the project scale to reprints, companion booklets and a Japanese edition.
The broadcast and the booklet work as a pair: six minutes of television, then a shelf copy a child can revisit at their own pace for years.
What you can take
Co-write with the audience: a book shaped by the children it depicts earns a national broadcast slot, and a free booklet keeps working after the TV moment fades.
Since then
By October 2026 the CBeebies YouTube reading had passed 2.5 million views and the reading also sits on BBC iPlayer. A space-themed edition of the companion activity booklet About Me followed, reprints of Bunnyland kept selling — in the publisher’s words they were going like hot cakes — and the book reached Japan in translation. Jo, Workforce Development Manager at Imago Young Carers, called the broadcast a fantastic platform to raise awareness of young carers.
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