Questions & answers
- How long does it take?
- Books are made in small batches and checked by a person. We email you a date when your order is confirmed. Printed orders ship within 5 business days of approval. You can follow progress on your order page at any time.
- Do I have to upload photos?
- No. Photos give the closest likeness because we train a private model on them, but you can also describe your character in words, or build them from simple options (hair, eyes, outfit, personality), and we illustrate from that description instead.
- What kind of photos work best?
- Clear, well-lit photos with the face or whole body easy to see; a mix of close-ups and full-body shots from different days. One character per photo. Skip filters and sunglasses.
- Can the character be a pet or a toy?
- Absolutely. The stories are written for any character — the captions use the name you give us.
- What do I get with a digital order?
- A print-ready PDF of the book (two pages per US Letter sheet, cut-and-staple) and, for flashcards, a double-sided PDF with the picture side and a word-only drill side. Every PDF starts with a page of print instructions.
- What happens to my photos?
- They are used only to illustrate your order and are deleted 30 days after delivery. The character model we train is private to your order and never reused. See our privacy policy.
- Will my child’s skin tone and hair be right?
- That is the job. Skin tone, hair colour, texture and style, a hijab or other head covering, glasses, hearing aids, a wheelchair: each one is named in the painting instructions for every page, and a person checks every page before it ships. Here is exactly how.
- Is the art made by AI?
- Yes. The illustrations are generated by an image model, conditioned on your photos or description, from instructions we write for each page; the stories are written by people and checked for decodability; and a person looks at every book before it goes out. Your photos are never used to train anything beyond your own order.
- Can my character be a licensed character, like a superhero or a cartoon character?
- No. We illustrate real children, real pets and real toys. We cannot make books starring trademarked characters (superheroes, film and TV characters, branded toys), and we will decline those orders with a full refund.
- What if the likeness isn’t right?
- Reply to your delivery email within 14 days and we will re-illustrate the pages you flag at no charge.
- Which phonics sequence do you follow?
- Short vowels first, then digraphs (SH, CH, TH), long vowels, and consonant blends — a common synthetic-phonics order. Each book uses only that pack’s words plus a small set of sight words.
