A real example, start to finish

One photo became this book

Meet Lena, our example explorer. Follow the exact steps you'd take (photo, character, style, theme) all the way to a finished picture book you can read right here.

Step 1

One photo, any style

Meet Lena, 6, and Dad: real photos on the left, their characters on the right. Tap a style: Lena and Dad are redrawn together, and the whole book follows. Add parents, siblings or friends. They become characters too.

Example photo of Lena, our example explorer — The real photo

Lena as a character in the Watercolor style — Lena

Lena as a character in the Crayon style — Lena

Dad

Step 2

Pick the adventure

Lena holding up the old brass key as she and Dad follow the winding riverbank path between tall reeds, Dad unfolding the faded torn map, the willow island rising from the misty river ahead, claymation illustration

Adventure · Claymation

Lena picked Claymation · Adventure · 16 pages · that became the book below. Tap another adventure: same explorers, a new world, and a different art style on every tile.

These six are presets. You can also write your own theme in a sentence: parents use it for the lessons and milestones their kids are working on.

Baking breadBrushing teethPotty trainingFirst day of school

Step 3

The book

An old brass key that fits no lock at home, a map with its corner torn clean off, and a little music box at river's end with one last song to give. Every page below (words and pictures) was created with LittleReaders in Claymation · Adventure, exactly as you'd receive it.

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Cover

Notice what doesn't change

Same face, same hair, same outfit. On every single page. That's what makes it feel like Lena's book instead of a book with Lena's name in it.

Lena sitting cross-legged on a little wooden dock, smiling at a dragonfly perched on her knee, a heron wading by the willow across the calm river, claymation illustration

Top-down view of Lena and Dad on the reed bank, Lena reaching down in surprise at the rusty biscuit tin her shoe clonked, a frog watching from a mossy rock, claymation illustration

Close-up of Dad squinting one-eyed at the smudged map while Lena listens wide-eyed for goats, gates or grapes, willow branches and a swallow behind them, claymation illustration

Lena and Dad hurrying along the riverbank under an old-soup storm sky as sideways rain whips the reeds and the stepping stones disappear under rushing water, claymation illustration

Lena and Dad on the high path watching the willow island slide out of soft fog below, an otter's ripples crossing the misty river toward it, claymation illustration

Close-up of Lena frowning in concentration as she turns the warm brass key in the box's little square hole, kneeling on the mossy island beneath the willow, claymation illustration

Close-up of Lena cradling the soft torn paper corner in both hands while Dad reads it over her shoulder, the key still in the music box beside the old map, a snail inching past, claymation illustration

Lena and Dad walking home along the golden evening riverbank, the music box and key left resting on the island stump under the willow behind them, swallows skimming the water, claymation illustration

Step 4

Fine-tune every page

The story arrives ready to read, and every word stays yours to change. Tap the text on the page below: rewrite it, change the font, size and colors, drag it anywhere on the page, or set a background behind the words. In your book, every page works this way.

Dad kneeling to pack sandwiches into his canvas satchel while Lena proudly holds up the old brass key beside the jar of buttons, swallows overhead, claymation illustration

Page 3 of 16

The example bookshelf

Different kids, different styles, different adventures. Every book here is real, finished output you can read cover to cover. New favorites replace these as they're made.

Cover illustration of Lena standing on a stool holding up red chilies over the soup pot while Mr. Ping stirs, red lanterns and the chili string framing the night stall, claymation illustration

Starring Lena · Claymation · 16 pages

A noodle stall gone polite and sleepy, a flour blizzard with an audience, and three wrinkled old chilies that still remember summer.

Cover illustration of Theo in his little yellow submarine Peanut meeting Sprat the lanternfish as the great spiny Lantern of the Deep glows gold above pale sponge towers, watercolor illustration

Starring Theo · Watercolor · 16 pages

A borrowed sand dollar, a small yellow submarine named Peanut, and a spiny giant in the dark whose lantern needs relighting.

Cover illustration of Maya kneeling with the blue candle and copper coin among glowing nightbells beside Marigold the dragon under a blossoming tree at dusk, 3D-animated illustration

Starring Maya · 3D Animated · 16 pages

A wishing coin that never granted a wish, a dragon whose fire has gone silly, and a meadow of nightbells waiting for exactly one minute each.

Art Styles

Ten styles, one of them yours

Pick any style and every page of your book is illustrated in it, cover to cover.

An example illustration in the Watercolor style — Watercolor

An example illustration in the Crayon style — Crayon

An example illustration in the Pen and Ink style — Pen and Ink

An example illustration in the Colored Pencil style — Colored Pencil

An example illustration in the Paper Collage style — Paper Collage

An example illustration in the Classic Storybook style — Classic Storybook

An example illustration in the Mid-Century style — Mid-Century

An example illustration in the Claymation style — Claymation

An example illustration in the 3D Animated style — 3D Animated

An example illustration in the Painterly Anime style — Painterly Anime

Now imagine your child in there

Books run 16 to 24 pages and start from $7.20. No subscription, pay only for what you create.

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