$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
Lily, Lil or Lily-pad? Whatever you call her at home, she's the hero on the cover
Lily is one of those rare names that is also a picture — a white flower, a garden at dusk, something growing quietly. This book takes that picture and puts her inside it: Lily on the cover, Lily on every page, drawn from the photo you upload.
LILYand the Garden That Bloomed at Sunset
Here's how a book for Lily 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.
LILYand the Rocket on the Silent Plain
LILYand the Secret of the Red Cape
LILYand the First Brave Step
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 Lily works so well in a story
Say it out loud and you hear why Lily reads so nicely to a child: two soft syllables, the same 'l' at the start of each, nothing to trip over. It is a name a narrator can repeat on every page without it ever sounding heavy — "Lily looked up", "Lily took a step", "Lily, wait!" — and a name a four-year-old can already recognise in print, because the shape of those letters is so simple.
It also fits naturally into a story because Lily is a flower first. Few names come with their own scenery, and this one does: gardens, ponds, petals opening at dawn. That gives the story easy, honest hooks — a garden that blooms only for her, a lily pad big enough to sail on — without forcing anything. And because the tale is written in English from the start, rather than translated, her name sits in every sentence exactly as you say it at the dinner table.
On the cover, a short name like Lily gets to be big. Four letters fill the title line in large type, which is exactly how a child spots her own book on the shelf.
There is also something fitting about giving a Lily a story where she grows. The flower starts as a closed bud and opens slowly, and that small idea — becoming braver one petal at a time — is a gentle thread to run through a book about a first sleepover, a new school or a new baby at home.
Where the name Lily comes from
Lily comes straight from the flower, whose English name goes back through Latin lilium to Greek leirion. For centuries the white lily stood for purity and new beginnings: it appears in medieval paintings, in church gardens, and in the line "consider the lilies of the field". When Victorian parents fell in love with flower names in the late 1800s, Lily was among the first to cross over from the garden to the birth register.
The name has a second root too. Lily was long used as a pet form of Elizabeth — the young Queen Elizabeth II famously called herself "Lilibet" because she couldn't yet pronounce her full name. So Lily can be both a flower and a family heirloom at once.
After a quiet spell in the mid-twentieth century, Lily came back strongly from the 1990s onwards and has since been one of the most-chosen girls' names across the English-speaking world, New Zealand included. Here the name has a local echo as well: the native rengarenga, the New Zealand rock lily, flowers white on coastal banks in early summer, and the Mount Cook lily — despite its name actually the world's largest buttercup — blooms high in the Southern Alps.
Flower lovers will point out that not every 'lily' is a lily. The water lily and the calla lily belong to completely different plant families, and the daylily is a cousin rather than a sister. For a name, that is part of the charm: Lily covers the pond, the vase and the cottage border all at once, and every one of them can turn up in her story.
Nicknames and pet forms of Lily
- Lil — The short, everyday version — what siblings shout across the garden and what sticks once she's at school.
- Lils — Affectionate and a bit playful; often what friends and cousins end up using.
- Lily-pad — A bedtime favourite for little ones, and handy for frog-themed jokes.
- Lilybell — Sing-song and sweet, popular with grandparents and with toddlers learning to say it.
- Lilibet — The old royal pet form — charming for a Lily who is also named after an Elizabeth in the family.
- Lilly, Lillie, Lili — Spelling variants of the same name; Lillie has an old-fashioned Victorian feel, while Lili looks European and is common in French and German families.
- Lily Rose, Lily Mae — Lily often pairs with a short middle name, and many families use both together when she's in trouble — or being called down for dinner.
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.
A4 hardcoverOrder anytimeDelivered to your door
Print the book
E-book NZ$14.99 · printed NZ$69.99 + shipping
Full price listPricing
Simple pricing, no surprises.
Every book is made to order — you pay once, no subscription. Card payment via Stripe.
Audiobook
+ $5.99- Narrated by a professional voice
- 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
Gift voucher
- Digital, printed, with an audiobook — or any combination
- Discounted bundles of 2, 3 or 5 books
- Valid for 3 years
- Delivered by email right after payment
All prices are final and include GST; shipping is added separately and you'll see it before you place your order. You only order the printed book once your digital book is finished — so you know exactly what you're printing.
Create a book today that they'll never forget.
Your digital book is usually ready within 15 minutes of ordering. The printed A4 hardcover ships straight to your door.
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
Yes. You choose the name the story uses, so the hero can be Lily on the cover and still be called by the nickname she knows best inside. Many families keep Lily for the title and let a character call her Lil now and then.