GSEP Alumna Caro Kay Celebrates the Power of Imagination

A cardboard box becomes the doorway to an extraordinary adventure in Box of Impossible Pets, a new children’s picture book by Caro Kay (MA in Teaching ’21). Illustrated by Hilary Alder and published by DAP Books under its Imagine children’s imprint, the book is scheduled for release on September 22, 2026.

The story follows Ruby and Orlando, two children whose drawings on a giant cardboard box magically come to life. Soon, a roaring lion, a tumbling panda, and a singing baby whale have burst into their garden. Each creature brings opportunities for discovery and friendship, but the children eventually learn that wild and wonderful things are not always meant to be kept.

“Sometimes all a child needs are a cardboard box and crayons and to be left alone,” Kay said. “Stand back and watch their curiosity and imagination take over. I hope Box of Impossible Pets reminds children that their ideas can turn the ordinary into something extraordinary.”

The idea for the story came from watching Kay’s daughter, Lizzy, and her friend Faye play with the enormous box in which a new refrigerator had arrived. To the children, it was never merely packaging. It became a pirate ship, a spaceship, a store, and even a lion, with a new world emerging through play each day.

Years later, while struggling with another writing project, Kay revisited an early version of the story titled The Box. She began reimagining it with UK editor Lucy Brownridge and invited Alder, one of Lizzy’s godmothers, to create the illustrations.

Although Alder is an artist without formal training as an illustrator, Kay said her interpretation elevated the story beyond anything she had initially envisioned. Their partnership became an essential part of bringing Ruby and Orlando’s imaginative world to life.

Creating Space for Curiosity

Kay’s experience in Pepperdine University’s Master of Arts in Teaching program strengthened her understanding of how children learn and reinforced her belief in curiosity, creativity, and meaningful engagement.

Those principles are at the heart of Box of Impossible Pets. Instead of telling children how to imagine, the story gives them room to make their own discoveries.

“Imagination is not something we need to manufacture for children,” Kay said. “All we need to do is give it room. I hope the book encourages children, parents, and teachers to stay curious, create, and recognize the magic in everyday things.”

Kay believes the picture book can also serve as a flexible classroom resource across kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. Younger students might answer the question “What can a box become?” through drawing, dramatic play, and oral storytelling. As children advance, the same story can help them examine narrative sequence, character choices, cause and effect, and evidence-based predictions.

Her hope is that educators will treat the book as an invitation to create rather than simply as a reading exercise.

“What impossible creature would you draw? Where would it go? What story would you create around it?” Kay said. “Most of all, I hope children come away believing that their imaginations are powerful and that the worlds they create matter.”

A Common Thread of Storytelling 

Since earning her degree in 2021, Kay has built a multidisciplinary career spanning education, facilitation, technical writing, climate resilience, and international environmental work.

While completing her graduate studies, she worked as a teacher associate at The Buckley School in Los Angeles. In 2024, she cofounded 319Climate with her partner, Dr. Robert Kay. As president, she leads the organization’s training, stakeholder engagement, and facilitation work.

Her recent projects have included supporting resilience initiatives for ADB, the World Bank, and the U.S. Green Building Council. She has supported stakeholder engagement related to the integration of resilience into LEED v5 and helped design facilitated discussions involving the insurance and finance sectors.

Kay has also provided technical writing and policy-synthesis support to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, including work on climate-adaptation opportunities in Central American aquaculture. For the United Nations Environment Programme, she has helped coordinate and synthesize contributions from member states, agencies, and development partners for a complex environmental report.

Although international climate work and children’s publishing may appear to belong to different worlds, Kay sees an important connection between them.

“Both depend on understanding an audience and finding the clearest, most engaging way to tell a story,” she said.

Kay encourages current and future teachers to protect space for play, curiosity, and unconventional thinking. A cardboard box, she noted, can inspire lessons in storytelling, art, collaboration, problem-solving, empathy, or science, depending on the questions children bring to it.

“Children notice when the adults around them are genuinely interested in their ideas,” Kay said. “Helping children make unusual connections and create things that do not necessarily have one predetermined ‘right’ answer is pure gold.”

Box of Impossible Pets is available for preorder through Di Angelo Publications.