Picture books for your classroom, tied to what you teach
Write a short story for a topic you’re teaching and Once Books illustrates it — the same characters and one art style on every page, in minutes rather than weeks.
Short books for a specific topic
A book about the water cycle, a class trip, a kindness theme — written by you, in your words, and illustrated coherently. Because the characters and art style are locked, a book reads as one book rather than a set of clip-art pages, and you can make a different one for the next topic without starting from scratch. See the four-step flow.
A whole cast, kept consistent
Classroom stories rarely have one character. Each character carries a locked Character Sheet that is re-supplied on every page, so a group stays recognisable across the book — the same reason a single hero stays recognisable, applied to a cast. Flip through a finished sample to see the consistency hold.
An honest word on children’s photos
Making a real student the hero is powerful — but a photo of a child needs their parent or guardian’s consent, and we can’t verify that for you. For a classroom, the safe default is invented characters for the topic; use a real child only when you have permission for that child. Uploads are moderated and finished books are private by default. The full detail is on child safety.
Common questions
- Can I make a book around a specific curriculum topic?
- Yes. Write a short story for the topic you’re teaching and Once Books illustrates it — the same characters, one art style, on every page. It’s built for short, focused books, not just a single hero.
- Can a book have a cast of characters, not just one child?
- Yes. Each character gets a locked Character Sheet re-supplied on every page, so a group of characters stays recognisable across the whole book — useful for a class of characters or a recurring set.
- Is it safe to use my students’ photos?
- Only with each child’s parent or guardian’s consent — the same standard as any photo of a child. We can’t verify that consent for you, so for a classroom we’d suggest invented characters for the topic unless you have permission for a specific child. Uploads are moderated and books are private by default.
- Can I make several books without it costing a fortune?
- Yes. Generation runs in minutes per book rather than the weeks and cost of commissioning, so making a set of short books for different topics is practical.