About Story Petal

Story Petal makes beginning-reader books that a child actually wants to read again, because they are the hero.

Decodable books are the workhorses of learning to read: short sentences built only from sounds a child already knows. They are also, honestly, a little dull, and most of them are set in nobody’s neighbourhood. We fix that with three things: real plots (a chase, a search, a mystery), a star the reader already loves, and families and places that are theirs.

The phonics

Twenty packs in a common synthetic-phonics order: the five short vowels, then SH, CH and TH, then the long vowels, then consonant blends. Each pack has twenty focus words. Every caption is checked by a decodability rule before it goes into a book: every word is a pack word, a word from an earlier pack, one of a small set of sight words, or a word built only from sounds taught so far. Written for ages 2 to 5; the character can be any age.

The pictures

Our illustrations are generated by an image model in a big-screen 3D animation look and checked by a person. We name skin tone, hair and every identifying feature in the painting instructions so the art stays true to your child. Read what our art must get right.

Who we are

Story Petal is a small, independent maker of personalised books. Every order is looked at by a person before it ships, and every reply to our emails is read by one.