Behind the universe

Little adventures. Big feelings. Your colors.

Meowelo began as a quiet escape during a noisy season. It is now a story-and-coloring world for children aged 6 to 12, where seven friends explore, make things, get a little muddled and find their way, one small adventure at a time.

  • May 2025 Since
  • 12 in Series One Books
  • 7 characters Friends
  • 6 to 12 For ages
Leo Melven seen from behind in a black T-shirt, coloring a Meowelo page at his computer at night, with Lunai in his blue hoodie sitting on the desk beside him. Colored-pencil drawing.
Leo MelvenCreator of Meowelo (pen name)

Why Meowelo exists

For the moment a big feeling arrives before the words do.

Leo Melven is the pen name behind Meowelo. It started in May 2025, on a laptop, during a stretch when very little else felt settled. The first drawing was a cat at a rainy window, too full of little worries to sleep. He didn't need to be told how to feel. He needed a moment to notice it, a friend nearby, and one small thing to try next.

That became the idea behind every book. Children aged 6 to 12 feel big things long before they can explain them. Each Meowelo story gives them a character to feel it alongside, a few words to name it, and a page to color while the grown-up beside them asks a question instead of giving a lecture.

The coloring isn't decoration. Holding a pencil, following a line and deciding where the blue goes are the hand skills and small choices children build school and confidence on. And a quiet page gives a feeling time to settle before anyone has to talk about it.

Everything here starts with one person: the stories, the ideas behind every picture, this website. The vision is a shelf of twelve books a family keeps coming back to, where a child meets a feeling, names it, colors it and takes one small step.

The thinking behind it

Why hands, color and story, together

Meowelo leans on a few well-studied ideas about how children grow. Here they are, with the research behind them.

Busy hands

Children's fine motor skills when they start school are linked to their later reading and math, across several large groups of US children. Grissmer et al., 2010

Coloring is one of the gentlest ways to practice grip, pressure and control.

Words for feelings

Putting a feeling into words went with a quieter response in the brain's alarm center, in a study with adults. Lieberman et al., 2007

In the books, feelings show up through what the characters do, never through a lecture.

Reading together

Preschoolers from homes with more shared reading showed more activity in brain areas that support understanding and picturing stories. Hutton et al., 2015

Every story moment is short enough to share aloud, then color together.

A quiet page

In a study with adults, twenty minutes of coloring a structured design lowered anxiety more than coloring on a blank page. Curry & Kasser, 2005

Meowelo pages use bold outlines and open shapes for that kind of calm, focused time.

What we don't claim: these studies are reasons for how the books are made, not a promise about any one child. Meowelo is made for reading, creativity and enjoyment. It is not therapy and not a substitute for professional care.

Behind the desk

The kit I recommend

What a story-and-coloring book needs, from the first sketch to the test print. The ones marked “On my desk” are what I use every day; the rest are the ones I'd choose.

Some of these are affiliate links: as an Amazon Associate, Meowelo earns from qualifying purchases, at no extra cost to you. It never decides what goes on this list.

Drawing & design

  • Wacom Intuos Pro (Medium)

    Wacom Intuos Pro (Medium)

    A pen tablet for clean, even line art in Illustrator

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • iPad Air 13-inch (M3)

    iPad Air 13-inch (M3)

    Sketching characters and scenes away from the desk

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Apple Pencil Pro

    Apple Pencil Pro

    Pressure and tilt for sketches on the iPad

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Adobe Creative Cloud

    On my desk

    Adobe Creative Cloud

    Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign: line art, covers and the KDP interiors

    Visit site

Computer & desk

  • MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4 Pro)

    MacBook Pro 14-inch (M4 Pro)

    Big print files and dozens of artboards without slowing down

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • BenQ PD2706U 27-inch 4K monitor

    BenQ PD2706U 27-inch 4K monitor

    Color-accurate screen, so print colors match what you see

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Logitech MX Master 3S

    Logitech MX Master 3S

    A precise, quiet mouse for long vector sessions

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • BenQ ScreenBar

    BenQ ScreenBar

    Glare-free light for late-night drawing

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Steelcase Series 1 chair

    Steelcase Series 1 chair

    Back support for long drawing days

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • FlexiSpot E7 Pro standing desk

    FlexiSpot E7 Pro standing desk

    Switch between sitting and standing through the day

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Samsung T7 1TB portable SSD

    Samsung T7 1TB portable SSD

    A second copy of every book file

    See on AmazonPaid link

Paper, pencils & test prints

  • Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils

    Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils

    The first pencil sketch of every page

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Canson XL Mix Media pad

    Canson XL Mix Media pad

    Sketching and trying out color ideas on paper

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Epson EcoTank ET-2800

    Epson EcoTank ET-2800

    Test-printing pages before they go to KDP

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • HP Premium32 paper

    HP Premium32 paper

    Heavy, bright paper that takes crayons and markers

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Prismacolor Premier, 72 colors

    Prismacolor Premier, 72 colors

    Coloring the example pages

    See on AmazonPaid link
  • Crayola Crayons, 24 count

    Crayola Crayons, 24 count

    Testing pages the way children actually color them

    See on AmazonPaid link

Website

  • Hostinger

    On my desk

    Hostinger

    Hosts meowelo.com

    Visit site

The Meowelo world

12 Books. 7 Characters.One cozy world.

Why Meowelo? It is the name of the little village where the seven friends live: the place where the cats say hello, a "meow" and a "hello" in one word. Meowelo is a collectible world of story-and-coloring adventures for ages 6–12. At the heart of it are seven friends (Lunai, Riyu, Myro, Naeli, Rinwa, Pico and Cheddo) and one series of twelve books, Little Adventures, Big Feelings: a rainy evening, a garden, a forest, a kite, a lantern walk and more, each with its own signature color.

Lunai

Evening adventures

In Lunai and the Quiet Moon, Rinwa and the Crooked Stars, One Lantern at a Time and Home Under the Stars, lanterns, stars and moonlight light the way.

Naeli

Making things

In Naeli's Growing Garden, Myro and Cheddo Build a Home, The Rainbow Kite and Myro's Surprise Picnic, the friends plant, build, patch and plan, and things rarely go exactly to plan.

Pico

Out exploring

In Pico and the First Tree, The Secret Moon Pond, Cheddo's Little Basket and Myro's Unfinished Map, there's always something around the next root, reed or bend in the trail.

Explore the books Meet the seven friends

Our promise

The Meowelo promise

Made for coloring

Bold clean outlines, big open shapes and no clutter, designed for pencils, crayons and child-safe markers, with story text kept clear of marker-heavy pages.

Story first

Original characters, original art, and prose written to be read aloud by an adult who enjoys it too. Nothing here is disposable.

Feelings, lightly

Feelings turn up the way they do in real adventures, through what the characters do, never as lessons. Meowelo is for reading, creativity and enjoyment; it is not therapy, and it never claims to be.

Start with one ordinary evening

A story, a page to color and a grown-up nearby. Print a free page tonight, or read how the books work.

Open the free library