Paul and the Ponco People

This edition

The Radiant Book is an interactive development edition of Paul and the Ponco People: the story in twenty-one chapters, read as real text on a page that behaves like a book, with twenty paintings placed where they belong in the telling. All twenty are gathered, in order, in the gallery.

The text used here is the revised development edition from the package. Its own note explains the intent:

This development edition preserves the central invention of the original manuscript: a bored young inventor named Paul enters the Radiant Rainbow and meets the vain, ingenious and accident-prone Ponco people.

The story has been reshaped for a modern middle-grade reader. The chapters are shorter, the language has been tightened, the seven colour adventures now build towards a single crisis, and Paul plays a more active part in resolving it. This is not intended to replace the original manuscript. It is a new working version designed to help the family explore the story’s future as an illustrated book and animated film.

Reading here

Start at Chapter 1, or open any door in the Rainbow Room. Nothing is locked. The book remembers where you were and which doors you have visited — on this device only, in your browser's own storage. There are no accounts, no cookies of ours, no analytics and no trackers.

The Aa control in the header sets text size and motion. Motion is already off for anyone whose system asks for reduced motion, and the book is fully readable without JavaScript. On a keyboard, the left and right arrow keys turn to the previous and next chapter; on a phone, a firm sideways swipe does the same.

Every painting can be opened uncropped: select it, then close with the button or the Escape key.

Rights

© 2026 The Birch Family. All rights reserved.