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Tally Tells
Front cover: ’Twas the Night Amara Saw St. Nick. A smiling girl with two curly puffs, in a mustard dressing gown, peeks round the banister on Christmas Eve, a ginger kitten at her side and stockings on the fireplace behind
Sample book: Amara is an invented child, made with AI, not a customer.

Tally tells your child’s story.

Send one photo and we paint your child into a classic story, the same child from the first scene to the last. The preview is free, and nothing is printed until you’ve approved every page.

Pick a story

The Night Before Christmas

Make a free previewLook inside this book

Hardcover $49.99, softcover $39.99. Shipping is included. No card needed for the preview.

Only the child changes.

Every book starts as a finished painting. We paint your child in from one photo and leave the rest alone, down to the last brushstroke.

Here is the same page made from two photos. Mateo and Amara are invented children, made with AI for our sample books. Amara’s page is the first try, not retouched.

Photo of Mateo, an invented boy with glasses and wavy dark hair, made with AI

Mateo’s photo

Mateo holds up the little bowl, scraped clean
Goldilocks and the Three Bears, spread 4, with Mateo
Photo of Amara, an invented girl with deep brown skin and two big coily puffs, made with AI

Amara’s photo

The porridge page with Amara painted in place of Mateo. Everything else on the page is unchanged.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears, spread 4, with Amara

On the shelf

See every story

Old tales, retold short enough for bedtime. Nobody gets eaten, nobody stays lost for long, and everyone gets home.

Front cover: Mateo and the Three Bears. A boy with glasses holds a mended wooden chair at a round green cottage door, a bear cub peeking round the frame
Goldilocks and the Three BearsThree bowls, three chairs, three beds, and one very sticky mend.Ages 4–6 · from $39.99
Front cover: ’Twas the Night Amara Saw St. Nick. A smiling girl with two curly puffs, in a mustard dressing gown, peeks round the banister on Christmas Eve, a ginger kitten at her side and stockings on the fireplace behind
The Night Before ChristmasChristmas Eve, a clatter on the roof, and your child creeping down the stairs.Christmas storyAges 4–6 · from $39.99
Front cover: Zoë and the Gingerbread Child. A laughing girl with long black hair runs through the snow beside a running gingerbread cookie and a robin
The Gingerbread ChildA cookie that won’t wait to cool, and a chase through the snow.Ages 4–6 · from $39.99
Front cover: Nora and the Ten Lost Stars. A red-haired girl in moon pyjamas holds up a glowing jar of nine stars, the littlest star on its rim, a kind Moon above
The Ten Lost StarsTen stars fall into the garden. Your child counts them home.Ages 4–6 · from $39.99
Front cover: Maximiliano and the Three Little Pigs. A grinning boy in dungarees holds a rolled plan in front of a brick house, three pigs at the windows
The Three Little PigsStraw, sticks or bricks, and your child draws the plan.Ages 4–6 · from $39.99
Front cover: Bo and the Red Cape. A fair-haired child in a red cape walks a sunny woods path with a basket, a grey wolf's tail curling from behind a tree
Little Red Riding HoodA red cape from Grandma, and a wolf in her nightcap.Ages 4–6 · from $39.99

Covers from our sample books. The children on them are invented, made with AI. Yours is painted from your photo.

Shopping for something? birthday, christmas, new sibling, first day of school or from grandparents.

Read the whole book first.

Every page of every sample book is on its story page. Here is Bo’s Little Red Riding Hood, from the parcel on the doorstep to soup with Grandma.

Bo is an invented child, made with AI for this sample book, not a customer.

  1. Bo lifts a red cape out of a parcel on the doorstep. One morning, a parcel came for Bo, all the way from Grandma’s cottage on the other side of the woods. Inside was a cape, as red as a robin, with a hood. The note said: For my Little Red.
  2. Bo packs a basket with soup, a honey cake and lemons. But Grandma had a sniffly cold. So Bo packed a basket: hot soup, a honey cake, and lemons for tea. “Soup is best hot,” said Bo. “Straight there. No dawdling.”
  3. Bo skips into the woods, a grey tail swishing behind a tree. The path wound into the woods, where the trees were tall and the birds were busy. Up went their red hood, and off went Bo, skipping. Behind a tree, something grey went swish.
  4. The wolf sniffs the basket as Bo holds it close. It was a wolf, with a long grey tail and a sly smile. “Good morning,” said the wolf. “What’s in the basket?” “Soup for Grandma, by the yellow gate,” said Bo. “And a honey cake. Not for wolves.” The wolf licked his lips.
  5. Bo picks bluebells as the wolf slips away down a shortcut. “Grandma would like flowers,” said the wolf. “Look, a whole meadow of them.” Bo picked one bluebell. Then two. Then a great big armful. And the wolf slipped away down a shortcut. He had read this story before.
  6. Three pictures: the wolf knocks, Grandma hides in the wardrobe, the wolf climbs into her bed. Knock, knock. “Who’s there?” called Grandma. “It’s Little Red,” squeaked the wolf. Grandma peeped out and saw a long grey tail. Quick as a wink, she hid in the wardrobe. The wolf put on her nightcap, her spectacles and her fluffy bedsocks, and climbed into her bed.
  7. Bo peers in at Grandma's half-open door. The yellow gate. The front door, a little bit open. “Come in, my dear,” croaked a voice. That’s a very sniffly cold, thought Bo, and went inside.
  8. The wolf in Grandma's nightcap in her bed, an eye peeping from the wardrobe. “Grandma, what big ears you have!” “All the better to hear you with, my dear.” From the wardrobe came a tiny sniff.
  9. Bo looks carefully at the big eyes over the spectacles and the tail under the quilt. “Grandma, what big eyes you have!” “All the better to see you with, my dear.” Bo looked very carefully: at the ears, at the eyes, and at the long grey tail poking out from under the quilt.
  10. Bo, hands on hips, asks the wolf a question. “Grandma, what big TEETH you have!” “All the better to…” “Wait,” said Bo. “What’s my name?” The wolf scratched his nightcap. “Er. Little Red… Riding… Hood?”
  11. Bo points at the door; the wolf hides under the quilt. “Nope. I’m Bo. And you’re a WOLF!” “Out of Grandma’s bed, please.” The wolf pulled the quilt up to his nose. “Shan’t. It’s cosy in here, and my tummy is rumbling.”
  12. The honey cake rolls down the hill and the wolf runs after it in bedsocks. Then Bo had an idea. The wolf’s own trick! “Wolves would like honey cake,” said Bo. “Look, a whole one!” Out of the door it rolled, and off down the hill. Out of the bed leapt the wolf, bedsocks and all. Slam! went the door. Click! went the bolt.
  13. Grandma comes out of the wardrobe and holds Bo. The wardrobe door creaked open, and out stepped Grandma in her slippers. “Atishoo!” “Grandma, what big hugs you have!” “All the better to hug you with, my dear.” And the soup was still hot. Just.
  14. The woodcutter arrives late; far off, the wolf eats the honey cake. Up the lane puffed the woodcutter, a bit late, as usual. “Did somebody need rescuing?” “Not today,” said Grandma. “Soup?” Far off on the hill, a wolf in bedsocks ate a whole honey cake, and licked up every crumb.

Spread 1 of 14

Little Red Riding Hood: the book, the price and the questions

Nothing is printed until you say yes.

You approve twice: the drawing of your child before we paint, and the finished book before we print. The book that arrives is the one you saw.

Photo of Mateo, an invented boy with glasses and wavy dark hair, made with AI
Mateo’s likeness sheet: his face from the front, three-quarter and side, and standing in a blue hoodie and jeans, made from his photo
Mateo’s photo and the drawing of him made from it, for a sample book. Mateo is an invented child, made with AI.
  1. 1

    You send one photo.

    A clear one from your phone is plenty. We check it before anything is painted, and tell you if it won’t work.

  2. 2

    You approve the drawing of your child.

    Your child from the front, the side and standing, made from your photo. If it isn’t them, ask for another (you get 3).

  3. 3

    You read a free preview.

    The cover, your dedication and a few spreads with your child in them, as quick watermarked drafts. No card needed.

  4. 4

    We paint all 32 pages, a person checks them, and you approve the finished book.

    Nothing goes to the printer until you say yes. Spotted a typo? We fix it first.

  5. 5

    Then we print it and post it to you.

    Usually 11–19 days door to door, shipping included. Your photo is deleted within 72 hours of upload, or sooner when you approve the drawing.

  6. Our stories are retold from the old public-domain tales. AI helps with the first draft, and a person edits every line. The pictures are made with AI from your photo, and we check them before print. How each book is made

A grandparent can give it, and the parent still decides.

Pick the story and write the dedication. Add a photo you’re allowed to share, or we ask the child’s parent for one. Either way the parent says yes first, and you pay once you’ve seen the preview.

The price never appears in the box.

Start a giftMake one for your own child
Gift page: a tag on a red front door, reading This book belongs to Maximiliano
Dedication page: three brick houses at dawn, For Maximiliano, who always builds it strong
The gift page and dedication from a sample book. Maximiliano is an invented child, made with AI. Yours carries your own words.

A note before you upload anything

You’re about to send us a photo of your child, so here is exactly what happens to it. We use it to make one likeness of your child for the book. It’s seen only by the service providers who help us make the book, and it’s never sold. We don’t use it to train AI. The original is deleted within 72 hours of upload, or sooner when you approve the drawing, and you can delete everything sooner from your preview page.

If someone else is buying the book, a grandparent for instance, nothing is made from a photo until you say yes. We send you a private link and you decide.

And if the printed book doesn’t match what you approved, tell us within 30 days. We’ll print another one and you keep the first. Write to hello@tallytells.com and a person answers, within one business day.

The Tally Tells team

How we handle photosThe reprint promiseQuestions