$14.99
- 12 illustrated double-page spreads + cover and dedication
- Interactive page-flipping in your browser + downloadable PDF
- Text edits and illustration regeneration included
- Available in 30 languages
- Usually ready within 15 minutes
A made-to-measure book
Amelia Means “Hard Work” — This Book Gives Her an Adventure Instead
From a Germanic word for effort to Amelia Earhart's flight across the Atlantic, Amelia is a name with a story of its own. Here it becomes the hero of one — with her face in every illustration, and Millie wherever that is what you call her.
AMELIAand the Friend on the Park Path
Here's how a book for Amelia could look
Pick a theme, upload a photo, and your child becomes the hero of the story — with their name on the cover and inside.
AMELIAand the Little Red Tractor
AMELIAand the Fox at the Forest's Edge
AMELIAand the Map to the Misty Peaks
The covers above are samples — the illustrations were created by artificial intelligence and the children in them aren't real. Your book is made from the photo you upload.
Why a book with Amelia's name on the cover
Amelia is a name that takes up space on a cover. Four syllables, a soft start and an open ending — a-MEE-lee-a — it sits comfortably across the top of a picture and still reads clearly from across the room. In a title it rarely needs help: "Amelia and the Little Red Tractor" has a rhythm of its own before anyone has turned the first page.
Inside the story, the name works just as hard. Because it ends on a vowel, Amelia runs smoothly into whatever comes next — "Amelia ran", "Amelia laughed", "Amelia, look up!" — which matters in a book that is read aloud night after night. And because so many New Zealand classrooms have more than one Amelia, a story where she is unmistakably the one in the pictures, with her own face and her own friends, is a small way of telling her this Amelia is the one the adventure was written for.
If at home she is mostly Millie, that works too. Some families put the full name on the cover and let the story slip into the nickname when things get cosy; others choose Millie throughout, because that is the name she actually answers to at breakfast.
The meaning of the name gives the story something to play with, too. Amelia literally points back to work and effort, so a plot where she rolls up her sleeves — fixing a stubborn tractor on a farm, reading a paper map when the path splits, coaxing a shy fox out of the long grass — feels less like a coincidence and more like the name living up to itself. The four cover ideas below lean into that: each one shows an Amelia who is busy doing something rather than simply standing in the middle of the picture.
Dialogue is where a long name can trip a story up, and Amelia avoids it. Other characters can call out "Amelia!" across a meadow, a friend can whisper "Millie, over here", and a narrator can switch between the two without the reader losing track of who is who. In a story read at bedtime, that mix of a full name for the big moments and a nickname for the quiet ones sounds exactly like the way families actually talk.
Where the name Amelia comes from
Amelia grew out of the old Germanic element amal, meaning work or effort, so the name is usually read as "industrious" or "striving". Over the centuries it got tangled up with the Latin family name Aemilia, which is why the two are often treated as the same name even though their roots are different. That double heritage is part of its charm: it sounds both classical and warm.
The English-speaking world took it up through royalty. Princess Amelia, the youngest daughter of King George III, made it fashionable in Georgian Britain, and Henry Fielding gave the title of his 1751 novel to a heroine called Amelia. In the twentieth century the name picked up a far more adventurous association: Amelia Earhart, who in 1932 became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. For a girl who loves maps, machines or the open sky, that is quite a namesake.
After a quieter spell in the mid-1900s, Amelia came back strongly in the 2000s. It topped the charts in England and Wales for several years in the early 2010s and has been a steady presence near the top of New Zealand's girls' name lists for well over a decade. That popularity is exactly why it ages so well — it is familiar without feeling dated, equally at home on a five-year-old and on a grown woman.
In New Zealand and Britain the name is usually said a-MEE-lee-a, with four clear syllables; in North America it is often squeezed into three, closer to a-MEEL-ya. Either way the stress lands on the second syllable, which is what gives Amelia its lilt when it is read aloud. Earhart herself is worth a mention once more: after her Atlantic flight she wrote a book about her flying called The Fun of It — not a bad motto for a girl whose name, on paper, means hard work.
Millie and other ways to say Amelia
- Amelia — The full name — what goes on the school roll, on certificates, and on the front of a book meant to be kept for years.
- Millie — The most common nickname by far, taken from the middle of the name. Light and playful; many Amelias are Millie at home and Amelia everywhere else.
- Mils — A shorter, sportier version of Millie that tends to appear once she is at school and among friends.
- Mimi — A doubled, sing-song form toddlers often invent themselves; it usually survives as a family-only pet name.
- Melie — Built from the second half of the name, a little softer than Millie and popular with grandparents.
- Ami — Taken from the opening of Amelia; short enough to shout across a playground or a beach.
How it works
How a book with your child's name comes to life.
Olivia
1
Create your hero and other characters
Upload one photo and it becomes a hero with your child's real likeness. Add up to 5 characters — siblings, friends, even a pet.
- A name, age and one photo
- Their real likeness in the illustrations
- Up to 5 characters: siblings, friends, a pet
2
Build the story and illustration style
Pick a ready-made plot from many worlds, or write your own. Choose the illustration style, the book's language and a dedication — you'll see a title suggestion and a story preview right away.
- Lots of worlds and plots — or write your own
- Choice of illustration style and language
- A personal dedication at the front
- Instant title suggestion and story preview
3
Get an e-book you can fine-tune
Ready within 15 minutes. Flip through the book online, fine-tune the texts, have any illustrations you pick regenerated, then view the e-book.
- Usually ready within 15 minutes
- Interactive page-flipping online
- Edit texts + regenerate illustrations
- Downloadable PDF + optional audiobook
And there's more
Get your book delivered to your door
Love it? Order a printed copy of your finished e-book anytime. We'll print it in full colour as an A4 hardcover and ship it right to your door.
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E-book NZ$14.99 · printed NZ$69.99 + shipping
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Audiobook
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- Start it once you've finished editing the book — ready in a few minutes
- Listen right on the website, no downloads
- The printed book includes a QR code page for instant playback
- Add it at checkout or purchase it anytime later
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Create a book today that they'll never forget.
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Create a bookReviews
Parents and kids who loved their book.
Over 1,700 books starring their very own hero
My daughters love the book! We read it every evening before bedtime. The story is so sweet and lovingly written, and the pictures are beautiful. My girls feel really special because their own name appears in the book. A great keepsake forever! Absolutely recommend. ❤️
We got the book as a birthday present and it turned out perfectly. The print quality pleasantly surprised me – hardcover, nice paper and illustrations printed in fine detail. The characters are drawn so well that my daughter recognized her sister, me, the giraffe and herself :) She really likes the story and now it’s her favourite book, we read it almost every evening. On top of that, it will remain a lovely keepsake that she’ll come back to even in a few years. I definitely recommend it.
The book was a gift… I’ll find out how happy it makes them… but it’s very beautiful
I have the books ready as a gift, so I’m already looking forward to handing them over
An absolutely stunning book made to order. It's not only a beautiful gift, but a keepsake for a lifetime. Our sons are thrilled. Not only did they find “themselves” in the book, but the whole story also takes place in their favourite place, which is the ice rink. The whole book is accompanied by wonderful pictures, and the dedication from us, the parents, is just the cherry on top. I warmly recommend it. Not only will all the “heroes of the book” be thrilled, but so will you, as soon as you see the book with your own eyes :)
Our daughter was absolutely thrilled, she looked through it several times in a row and declared that it's pretty, she hasn't had enough of it yet and we read it every day before bedtime.
The book is very beautiful, I would have welcomed more pages (for that price), the story is interesting, because my granddaughter loves animals and her cousins, but I have to wait until Christmas for her reaction
I got the book for a birthday and the princess wouldn’t put it down.
The book is very nice. The pictures look very nice, they're not blurry. The book really made us happy.
Very beautiful book, I always have trouble choosing in a bookshop, something bothers me about every one, or I can't find a theme I'd want.. here I can make up anything
A beautiful book that has its own unique magic! ❤️ The story is wonderfully done and the fact that your very own child becomes the main hero is absolutely amazing. My son was thrilled with the book and so was I. 🥰 A great idea, beautiful illustrations and a wonderful keepsake that we will happily come back to. I highly recommend it to all parents who want to make their children happy and give them the feeling that they are the heroes of their own story. ❤️📚
The book is wonderful! Exactly as I had dreamed it and designed it, a beautiful keepsake for my little son ♥️
🦉
FAQ
Questions parents ask.
Popular questions
Whichever she recognises as hers. You type the name you want the story to use, so the book can say Amelia, Millie or another family nickname. Many parents pick Amelia for a book they hope she will keep into adulthood.