I had meant to review The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental by Dolapo Adeyemi and illustrated by Sarah-Leigh Wills some weeks ago, but life (or rather a series of deaths) got the better of me! My thanks go to Ben Cameron For sending me a copy of The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental. It’s my pleasure to share my review today
Published by Grolightly on 29th May 2025, The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental is available for purchase in all good bookshops and online including here.
The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental
WARNING: This is NOT another boring “screen time is bad” lecture!
Meet Max and Mia, siblings who accidentally discovered that spilling glitter glue on a comic book could lead to the greatest adventure ever — transforming from digital CONSUMERS into tech-savvy CREATORS!
In Tycoon Town, these everyday kids (and their robot dog Metallia!) are about to show YOUR 8-12 year old how to:
✅ Turn those “just five more minutes” of screen time into “LOOK WHAT I MADE!” moments
✅ Outsmart sneaky apps that treat kids like products instead of people
✅ Balance their digital diet without giving up the fun stuff
✅ Create amazing tech projects that’ll make friends say “WHOA!”
✅ Join a worldwide crew of kid innovators changing the digital landscape
Packed with laugh-out-loud adventures, hands-on activities, and real stories of young creators, this book doesn’t just talk about digital literacy — it transforms it into an epic quest your child won’t want to put down!
FOR PARENTS & EDUCATORS: This isn’t just another children’s book. It’s a science-backed approach to healthy technology use that kids actually enjoy. Includes a comprehensive guide with conversation starters, implementation strategies, and resources to extend learning beyond the page.
My Review of The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental
A book of advice and ideas for young entrepreneurs.
I confess that I really didn’t like The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental to start with as it felt too ‘American’ for my taste. I also confess that I was completely stupid. I finished the book thinking it was super and I will actually be applying some of its advice (such as time limits on activities such as using social media) in my own life!
Divided into chapters that can be read independently or with a friend or adult, information, ideas and suggestions in The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental are presented in short accessible chunks so that young readers can absorb each part successfully. With white space for readers to make notes, draw and design, the book gives permission to young creative thinkers to experiment and gain self-confidence. I loved the way Dolapo Adeyemi makes it absolutely clear that set-backs, hiccups and failures are simply part of the learning process. There’s also a helpful glossary of terms, and in common with the text throughout the book, these terms are supported by highly relatable analogies so that understanding is possible for youngsters of all abilities.
Equally inspiring are the illustrations by Sarah-Leigh Wills. The cartoon style in The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental will appeal to young readers, and whilst it is childlike and child friendly, it isn’t childish or patronising. I also fully appreciated the diversity of ethnicity and the range of cultures and countries presented in the Real Stories and Cool Kids sections because they felt inspiring and inclusive.
The Tiny Tycoons: CyberMental is an accessible, encouraging book that teaches online and community safety without scaremongering, and which stimulates a child’s imagination and shows them that they have incredible potential. What could be better than that?
About Dolapo Adeyemi
Dolapo Adeyemi is a London-based serial entrepreneur who grew up in Nigeria with an accountant father and entrepreneurial mother, learning early that knowledge was the ultimate currency. With a degree in Chemical Engineering (and later an MBA at London Business School), she worked in the energy sector, started her own business making solar-powered bags, moved into the world of fashion with OYSBY, her own premium footwear brand, and was a finalist in the Draper’ Footwear Awards and was featured in Oprah magazine and other major media.
Immersing herself in technology and marketing innovation, and now with two daughters, she had an epiphany: we live in a world where only a privileged few truly understand how systems really work – from digital algorithms to financial markets – and we’re failing our children by not giving them this knowledge early. Furthermore, there is no reason why kids cannot understand the dopamine tricks of the attention economy, the origin, value, and systems of money, recognize cognitive biases, and learn to replace conflict with empathy.
Watching her daughters, now 8 and 10 navigate our digital world, she saw both the incredible potential and the pitfalls of technology in young hands. Tiny Tycoons was born from these everyday parenting moments – from explaining how apps work to discussing why we can’t believe everything we see online.
Fur further information, visit Dolapo’s website, or follow her on X @Dollarkpoh.
English (US) · 