35 years in educational publishing. One belief that hasn't changed.
Better Brain Academy is a division of PennText — a company that has spent 35 years building tools that help children learn. Read & Paint is our newest expression of that same belief.
Where this started
PennText didn't start with paint kits. It started in educational publishing, building materials that help kids learn to read, think, and grow — the unglamorous, patient work of getting the fundamentals right.
Over 35 years, that work never really changed. What changed was the world around it: more screens, more passive entertainment, less time spent making things with your hands. Better Brain Academy exists because that shift needed an answer.
Why the products keep evolving
The mission stays fixed — help children build better minds through curiosity, creativity, reading, and making. The products are just the current best expression of that mission. Read & Paint pairs a real book with a real paint-by-number kit because the pairing does something reading alone doesn't: it turns a story into something a child made with their own hands.
As we learn more — from research, from teachers, from families actually using these kits — the products will keep changing. The belief underneath them won't.
Read the belief that started it all.
Our Mission page has the full manifesto — ten things we believe, and why.
Read Our Mission