Garrett Gillin

Two Castles

Two Castles is a children's book by Garrett Gillin that introduces young readers to chess — the pieces, the patience, and the habit of thinking several moves ahead.

I wrote Two Castles because chess taught me how to think before it taught me how to play, and that's a transferable skill worth handing to a kid early.

Chess rewards the things that are hard to teach directly: sitting with a problem, considering a move you don't like, accepting that a strong position is worth more than a captured piece. Children pick those habits up through play far more readily than through instruction.

The same instinct runs through my work in franchise marketing — position first, tactics second. More about Garrett.

Cover of Two Castles, the children's chess book by Garrett Gillin, showing two castles facing each other across a chessboard
Two Castles — cover art