The Youth Series is a set of eleven standalone books for young readers, each built around the capacities the 78 Development Markers name. Each book can be read on its own, in any order — none requires having read another.
The eleven sort into three tracks that mirror the developmental arc the markers describe: Foundation books build the physical and cognitive ground, Tools books develop the working toolkit, and Questions books turn toward meaning and making. The marker names below are a sampling, not the full list — the complete, living definitions live in the central Development Markers reference.
Foundation · Agent-Habits · ages 10–15
The physical and cognitive ground: how to learn, how to run yourself, how your body works.
Better Student
Ages 10–14
How learning actually works — and how anyone can get better at it.
12 markers · incl.Changeable Brain · Growth Mindset · Deliberate Practice · Sleep Smarts
Free Your Mind
Ages 11–15
Good habits don't constrain freedom — they create it. Make the routine automatic so attention is free for what matters.
7 markers · incl.Habit Design · Focus by Design · Capture Habit · Mood Tools
Your Body
Ages 11–15
Your body is information you can learn to read — and a system you can learn to run, and keep safe.
8 markers · incl.Body Listening · Knowing My Zone · Calm Is Contagious · Boundary Setting
Tools · Artist-Tools · ages 13–17
The working toolkit: how to think, relate, manage resources, work with others, and read the systems around you.
Think Clearly
Ages 13–17
Not a catalogue of biases — a toolkit for scouts: how to figure out what's true and decide well under uncertainty.
11 markers · incl.Scout Mindset · Baloney Detection Kit · WRAP Decisions · 10/10/10 Rule
Connect
Ages 13–17
How relationships actually work — reading people, repairing rifts, and keeping the people who matter. The richest book in the series by marker load.
17 markers · incl.Active Listening · Repair Making · Reading Others · Keeping Friends
Your Money Story
Ages 14–18
What story are you telling yourself about money? This is how to author it on purpose.
3 markers · incl.Pay Yourself First · Future Money · Money Map
Team Work
Ages 13–17
Teams don't fail because the work is too hard — they fail when the human dynamics go unattended. This is the team-to-community bridge.
4 markers · incl.Safe Space Builder · We Over Me · What Just Happened? · Community Action
How the World Works
Ages 13–17
The world is interconnected systems you can learn to read and navigate. The shortest, sharpest book in the series.
3 markers · incl.Stocks and Flows · Feedback Loops · Scoreboard Seeing
Your Digital Life
Ages 13–17
See clearly what these systems actually are — then you can use them instead of being used by them.
3 markers · incl.AI Smarts · Hijack Awareness · How Stories Work
Questions · Hero-Ideals · ages 15–19
The deeper questions: what am I here for, and what will I make of it?
What Matters
Ages 15–19
What am I here for — and what will I make of it? The identity-work capstone of the series.
6 markers · incl.Knowing My Why · Living My Values · Gratitude · Give First
Curious + Creative
Ages 12–17
Curiosity and creativity aren't separate talents — they're the same posture: open, interested, willing to be surprised.
5 markers · incl.Wonder · Curiosity · How Ideas Grow · Making Something
Every book carries the same four-level progression for each capacity it covers — Knowing It · Using It · Living It · Passing It On — so a reader can see not just what a skill is, but what it looks like to grow all the way into it.
Written to be read for their own sake, not as a curriculum — stories and ideas that happen to carry the markers inside them. When the books are published, this is where you'll find them.