It stays a stair. Then a four-year-old works out that the eleventh one creaks and the tenth one does not, and spends the whole afternoon getting upstairs without waking it. That is a Tocko story, and there are fifty-two of them.
Four paperbacks · 7 × 9 inFrom $11.50 a copyAll four: ebooks and audiobooks free
Two taps.
Every one of the fifty-two ends the same way. Tap twice on the nearest hard thing, then stop and wait.
Tappers on the board 52
Tap twice. Then wait.
The books
Four paperbacks. Thirteen stories in each.
Nothing carries over between them, so there is no wrong one to start with. Each is 7 × 9 in, about 88 pages, colour throughout. Take all four and the ebooks and the audiobooks come with them.
Twelve meters that tick, one faster than the rest, and a boiler that breathes.
Stories 40-5288 pages7 × 9 in104 min read aloud
a copy
The thirteen games in Book four
40Fastest MeterThe Under
41Nine PegsThe Drying Roof
42Painted DoorThe Under
43Sheet FirstThe Drying Roof
44Ceiling WalkNumber Three
45Green Door RaceThe Green Door
46One Word EachThe Under
47Every PigeonThe Drying Roof
48Beat The SongThe Up-Down
49Boiler StepsThe Under
50Twelve ClicksThe Hall
51One StoneThe Middle
52Drag The SpoonNumber Three
All four
The whole set
Fifty-two stories in four books — and the ebooks and the audiobooks come with them.
52 stories354 pages54,316 words7 hours read aloud
Ebooks and audiobooks included
$5.00 off four separately
The engine
It cannot run out, and here is the arithmetic.
28 fixed facts about one building, crossed with 8 kinds of rule a four-year-old invents. That is 224 games before anybody finds a new fact — and every story finds one. 52 cells are spent.
Any squareThe fact stays fixedThe rule is what changes. Hover or tap a brass square to see which story that pairing turned into.
The shape
Eight beats, in the same order, fifty-two times.
A child who has heard three of these knows exactly where they are in the fourth. That is not a limitation to apologise for. It is the whole reason a three-year-old can join in on the third line.
1. Hook
Pim is already moving by the eighth word.
2. Want
What she is after, and the fixed fact standing in the way.
3. Try one
The rule, said out loud, and the first honest attempt.
4. Try two
Somebody else has a go, usually worse and much louder.
5. Turn
The building does something nobody expected.
6. Reverse
Pim goes back over it in her head and hears what it meant.
7. Settle
Who won, who lost, and the tapper goes on the board.
It has two roles, which is why it travels. One child taps and waits; somebody else is the building and answers. It works in a supermarket queue, through a shut door, and across the back seat of a car. A two-year-old with no words at all can play it.
The stories where Hod from upstairs wins outright. He can be perfectly still or completely out of control and nothing in between, and these are the second kind.
One flat rate a zone, whether the parcel holds one book or ten.
To
Takes
First book
Each after
United States
7 to 10 days
$4.49
$1.10
United Kingdom
6 to 9 days
$5.49
$1.35
Europe
8 to 12 days
$6.99
$1.55
Canada
11 to 15 days
$8.99
$1.95
Australia and New Zealand
12 to 17 days
$10.99
$2.25
Rest of world
14 to 22 days
$13.49
$3.00
Questions
The things people actually ask.
What is Tocko?
Fifty-two complete read-aloud stories for children aged 3–6, in four paperbacks. A four-year-old called Pim finds one fixed fact about the building she lives in, makes it the rule of a game, and plays it until somebody wins or somebody loses.
What makes it different from other stories for this age?
Most of them hand a child a neutral world and ask them to imagine over the top of it — a chair becomes a hotel. Tocko goes the other way. The stair does not become a mountain. It stays a stair, and the game is about the stair being a stair.
Will it run out of stories?
No, and the arithmetic is published. There are 28 fixed facts and 8 rule-types, which is 224 cells before a single new fact is found. One new fact is found per story, so the grid grows eight times faster than it is spent. 52 of the 224 cells are used.
What age are the Tocko books for?
3–6, read aloud. The sentences are short enough for a three-year-old to join in on, each story has one line that comes back three times so they can, and the jokes are built so an adult reading one for the ninth time still gets something. Most children stop needing an adult somewhere in the sixes, which is where the series stops aiming.
Are there pictures in them?
Every story carries the brass tapper struck for it — a small picture of the one fact the game was made from — and the four covers are painted. Beyond that the interiors are deliberately spare, because the whole series runs on what nobody can see. Pim cannot see behind the door on Eleven, the narrator admits she cannot either, and a picture that showed you would take the joke away.
Can I buy one book rather than the set?
Yes, and it will not leave a hole: each book is thirteen complete stories and nothing carries over. Four bought one at a time come to $54.00 on the price ladder; all four together are $49.00, and the ebooks and audiobooks come with them.
What is the two taps thing?
Every story ends the same way: tap twice on the nearest hard thing, then stop and wait. It has two roles, which is why it travels — one child taps and waits, and somebody else is the building and answers. It works in a supermarket queue and through a closed door, and a two-year-old with no words at all can play it.
Is there anything frightening in them?
No. Nobody is hurt, nothing is broken, and nothing chases anybody. The loudest thing that happens is a bin lid.
Do I get the ebooks and the audiobooks?
With all four, yes, free. Neither is sold separately. The paperbacks are complete on their own — the stories were written to be spoken, so reading them out loud yourself is the intended way round rather than a compromise — but if you buy the shelf you get the screen and the speaker with it.
How much do they cost?
A single copy is $15.00, and a copy costs less the more you buy — $11.50 at twelve or more. All four together are $49.00, with the ebooks and the audiobooks included. Postage is one flat rate a zone, whether the parcel holds one book or ten.
What if it arrives damaged, or it is just not for us?
Tell us and we replace it. You have 14 days to send a book back for any reason at all, including no reason, and we pay the return postage.
