I CAN!     

The story starts at five past eight in the morning, in a library that isn’t open yet, with four people arguing about a space where a book should be.
  This is a digital book. For 8 ~ 14.
Case 5 of 5 The one who isn’t on the list
The Monster Keepers I · C · A · N · ! Book 5 of 5 · out now
Five past eight in the morning. The library is not open yet.

Book Five of five · the last one

I Can!

Some monsters were somebody first.

However small a thing about you gets, it does not delete you.

Book Five of The Monster Keepers, and the last of the five. The story starts at five past eight in the morning, in a library that isn’t open yet, with four people arguing about a space where a book should be.

a novel by Timothy Helliwell
Grounded in ICAN Practical Psychology, created by Prof. CK Wong, JP.

Ages 9 and up 12 chapters A detective story that plays fair
The case and how it is meant to be read

Being left off a list is the true bit

Being left off a list is the true bit. Nothing has happened, and there is nothing to show.

I Can! is the last of five, and it is a detective story like the other four. It plays fair: every clue the children use is on the page before they use it, and a reader who is paying attention can be ahead of them.

Nothing in this book excuses anybody. A person can be worth caring about and still have to be stopped.

Nobody in this book gets through it on their own. Not the children, and not the grown-ups either. From the book’s own real-life page

1
Crew standing orders A space where a book should be is a thing. It gets minuted like anything else.
Exhibit one four people, and a space

The space where a book should be

The shelf · 08:05 four present, one absent

Four are on the shelf and one is not. Tap the space to put the missing one back — then put the five in the order that spells the series.

— four people arguing about a space where a book should be

Stand all five on a shelf, in order, and the spines spell I CAN!

That is the whole series, and it is printed on the covers. Five books, five letters, and this is the one that finishes the sentence. The story starts on a shelf exactly like this one, at five past eight in the morning, with four people arguing about the space.

Exhibit one · logged
9
Crew standing orders Four seconds, a card and a stamp. Ms. Okonkwo has timed it.
Exhibit two the promise this series makes

The fair-play test

Every clue the children use is on the page before they use it. Here are three of them, exactly as the book puts them. Read them, then answer the question underneath. The crew do not answer it out loud until much later in the story.

Evidence · three plain observations all three are on the page before anybody uses them
The crew’s file has forty-four ruled lines in it, and every one of them is a place with exactly one person standing in it.
An account in good standing is a thing you keep in good standing — four seconds, a card and a stamp — and Ms. Okonkwo has never seen any result from it at all.
Every register in that building still has his name on it, the whole way through, and that was written on purpose.

So — what is the crew’s file actually a record of?

The file, read back

Nobody in the book ever calls it a record of being on your own, but that is what it is.

Forty-four ruled lines, and exactly one person standing in each of them.

Whichever line you reached for, it was in front of you before anybody used it. That is the promise this series makes — every clue on the page before the crew use it — and you have just watched it keep the promise on yourself. You were ahead of them.

— reader was ahead of the crew. Minuted, filed, and not spoken about again.

Exhibit two · logged
17
Crew standing orders Forty-four ruled lines. One person to a line. Nobody doubles up.
Why this one lands Book 5 · ages 9 and up · 12 chapters

The particulars of the file

A document nobody read to the end

For most of this book you are holding a document you cannot read all of, which is exactly what everybody else in the school is doing.

An action with no result you can point at

Ms. Okonkwo says an account in good standing is a thing you keep in good standing, and that it takes four seconds, a card and a stamp — and that she has never seen any result from it at all.

Four pages that step out of the story

One before it starts, one inside it, one after it ends, and the last page of all. They are set apart in the type, they are plain, and they are meant to be read as themselves.

Exhibit three · logged
23
Crew standing orders A document you cannot read all of is still a document.
The Keeper’s casebook Five books. Five letters.

Case file closed

I

I See YouBook 1

Out now. Book One of five, and the letter I.

C

Claim Your NameBook 2

Out now. Book Two, and the letter C.

A

Act NormalBook 3

Out now. Book Three, and the letter A.

N

Never AloneBook 4

Out now. Book Four, and the letter N.

!

I Can!Book 5 · the one you are looking at

Out now. Book Five, and the letter !.

Stand all five on a shelf, in order, and the spines spell I CAN!

Case file · closed
Book FiveTwelve chaptersAges 9 and up a novel by Timothy Helliwell
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Inside the adventure Book 5 · ages 9 and up

Four moves, and none of them is a speech

The four I-C-A-N moves — see it clearly, know your worth, make your move, never go it alone — woven into the story, plus a plain-language safety guide and real help resources.

12

Chapters

A detective story that plays fair. Every clue the children use is on the page before they use it, and a reader who is paying attention can be ahead of them.

4

Pages that step out

One before it starts, one inside it, one after it ends, and the last page of all. They are set apart in the type, they are plain, and they are meant to be read as themselves.

5

Books, five letters

Stand all five on a shelf, in order, and the spines spell I CAN! This is Book Five, and the letter !.

From the crew’s own file ruled, numbered, and never named

Forty-four lines, one person each

The file one line, one place, one person standing in it

The crew’s file has forty-four ruled lines in it, and every one of them is a place with exactly one person standing in it.

Nobody in the book ever calls it a record of being on your own, but that is what it is.

First — the plain version what the book is actually about

Nothing has happened, and there is nothing to show

Sitting in a room where everybody knows your name and nobody has you written down anywhere.

Not being picked, not being asked, not being the one anybody thinks to check on.

Nothing has happened and there is nothing to point at — which is what makes it one of the hardest things there is to tell anybody about.

Say it anyway.

“I don’t think anybody would notice” is a whole sentence and it is enough to start with.

The thing you could do this week

Going and standing where a person is standing on their own is a real thing that a real ten-year-old can do. It is small and it is worth doing. It is not a rescue, it is not a job you have been given, and it does not make you responsible for anybody. If somebody is being hurt, what actually helps them is a grown-up knowing.

Telling isn’t snitching

Snitching tries to get somebody into trouble. Telling gets somebody out of danger. They are not the same thing. And if the first grown-up doesn’t listen properly, that is not the end of it. Tell another one, and keep going until somebody does.

For the grown-up reading over a shoulder what this book does and does not promise

Real-sized grown-ups, on purpose

The grown-ups in this book are real-sized on purpose. They turn up, they believe the children, they do the correct thing — and it is still not enough on its own, because there is one of them and a great many corridors.

In this book the children do the correct thing in the best conditions they will ever have and absolutely nothing happens. That part was put in on purpose. Out here, a right thing that doesn’t work first go is not a sign to stop. It is a sign to tell somebody else.

For most of this book you are holding a document you cannot read all of, which is exactly what everybody else in the school is doing.

The author, Timothy Helliwell, writes the story; the psychology under it is Prof. Wong’s. The series is grounded in ICAN Practical Psychology, created by Prof. CK Wong, JP.

Knowing when to reach for help is itself one of the strongest moves there is.
Prof. CK Wong, JP — Creator of ICAN Practical Psychology
The dedication, in full

For the kid who is in the room and not on the list.

For the kid who noticed that, from further back, and has been counting ever since.

And for the kid who left somebody off it, who is not only that.

Before you decide the short answers

The questions grown-ups actually ask

Do we have to have read the first four?

I Can! is Book Five of five, and the last of them. It is a detective story like the other four, and it plays fair: every clue the children use is on the page before they use it, and a reader who is paying attention can be ahead of them. If you would rather start at the beginning, Book 1 is I See You, and there is a link below.

What age is it for?

Ages 9 and up, twelve chapters.

What is in it besides the story?

The four I-C-A-N moves — see it clearly, know your worth, make your move, never go it alone — woven into the story, plus a plain-language safety guide and real help resources.

What are the four pages that step out of the story?

One before it starts, one inside it, one after it ends, and the last page of all. They are set apart in the type, they are plain, and they are meant to be read as themselves. The last page of all is the Help Page, and it lists real people, in a lot of countries, whose whole job is this.

Does the book promise that doing the right thing works?

No. In this book the children do the correct thing in the best conditions they will ever have and absolutely nothing happens. That part was put in on purpose. Out here, a right thing that doesn’t work first go is not a sign to stop. It is a sign to tell somebody else.

Is telling the same as snitching?

Snitching tries to get somebody into trouble. Telling gets somebody out of danger. They are not the same thing. And if the first grown-up doesn’t listen properly, that is not the end of it. Tell another one, and keep going until somebody does.

Why do the five books spell something?

Stand all five on a shelf, in order, and the spines spell I CAN! This is Book Five, and the letter !.

Nobody in this book is taken out of existence, and nobody can be. Not the children, and not the person the whole book is about. Every register in that building still has his name on it, the whole way through, and that was written on purpose. However small a thing about you gets, it does not delete you. It cannot. There is no such thing. There is always another one.

Five books. Five letters. First light.

Start with Chapter One. Free. Five past eight in the morning, a library that isn’t open yet, and four people arguing about a space where a book should be.

Read Chapter One free New here? Start at Book 1
The series, in your language English Traditional Chinese Simplified Chinese
The Monster Keepers · Book 5 · I Can! · a novel by Timothy Helliwell
Grounded in ICAN Practical Psychology, created by Prof. CK Wong, JP. If somebody is hurting your body, threatening you, taking your things, or making you frightened to walk down a corridor, that is not yours to sort out on your own — tell a trusted adult today. The Help Page at the back of this book lists real people, in a lot of countries, whose whole job is this. If you are in danger right now, call your local emergency number. ISBN 978-988-8171-68-2 (eBook) · www.micancapital.au · Published by WHOLE PERSON DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE · © 2026 MICAN CAPITAL LIMITED