Personalised Arabic children’s books, with your child’s name in every story

What you get

• A new story, written for your child. You say what it’s about (a trip to see teta, a first day at school, a lost tooth, a dragon who is scared of the dark) and the story is written from that.
• Arabic and English on every page, so the parent who reads Arabic and the one who reads English can both read it aloud.
• Your Arabic: Modern Standard Arabic, Gulf, Levantine, Egyptian or Moroccan, chosen for each book.
• Your child in every picture, drawn the same way on every page: skin tone, hair, glasses or hijab. No photos needed.
• Five illustration styles: watercolour, cartoon, flat, paper cut-out and coloured pencil.
• 10 or 20 pages, rhyming if you like, for any age from a few months to 12.

How it works

1. Tell us about your child: their name and age, the Arabic you speak at home, and what the story is about, in English or in Arabic.
2. We write it for their age, in your Arabic, with English on every page. You can start reading while the pictures are painted.
3. We paint every page in the style you chose, with your child drawn the same way on every page.
4. Read it together on a phone, a tablet or the TV, or print the PDF. Change any picture or line you like.

Written in Arabic first, not translated

The story is written in Arabic first, in the dialect you chose, and the English is translated from the finished Arabic. A second pass checks both languages for grammar, the dialect and words that suit your child’s age. So the Arabic reads like Arabic, not like a translation of an English book.

Modern Standard Arabic comes with vowel marks (تشكيل) for children under eight, and you can turn them on or off while you read.

Brothers, sisters, cousins and favourite characters

Once a book is made, you can keep its characters and send them on new adventures, and add more: a brother, a cousin, the cat. Up to six of them can star in one story, each looking the same as before.

Price

$2.50 for a 10-page book and $4.50 for a 20-page book. Your card is charged only once your book is finished, so if it can’t be made you pay nothing. There is no subscription, and changing pictures and words afterwards is included.

Questions parents ask

How old should my child be?

Any age from a few months to 12. A book for a baby has a few gentle words on each page; a book for an eight-year-old reads like a real adventure.

Will the child in the pictures look like mine?

Describe them once, with skin tone, hair, glasses or hijab, and every book draws them the same way. No photos needed.

How long does a book take?

Usually under ten minutes. The words come first, so you can start reading while the pictures are painted.

Is it a printed book?

No. Alf Layla books are read on a screen (a phone, a tablet or the TV) or downloaded as a PDF you can print at home or at a print shop. Nothing is posted, so there is no shipping and no wait.

What does it cost?

$2.50 for a 10-page book and $4.50 for a 20-page book. Your card is charged only once your book is finished, so if it can’t be made you pay nothing. There is no subscription, and changing pictures and words afterwards is included.

Can I change the story after it’s made?

Yes. Edit any line or the title, describe a new picture in your own words, or have a picture painted again.