Ever wanted to create a personalised storybook, for children or adults, with a touch of creativity, AI magic, and a lot of fun? Well, I decided to try this recently, and let me tell you – I had a lot of fun! The best part? It didn’t take me more than 15 minutes! Of course, I’m not going to promise that it’ll always be that fast, but trust me – it can be an efficient, enjoyable process if you know where to start.
This time, I didn’t create a storybook per se, but I made a unique, personalized book aimed at B2+ adult English students, focusing on the theme of New Year’s Resolutions. I’m going to walk you through the steps I took – and how you can do it too!
Step 1: Crafting the Perfect Prompt for ChatGPT
The first thing I did was think about what I wanted in my book. Since it was for adult students, I decided to base the content around New Year’s resolutions – a topic that would naturally spark reflection and conversation.
To get started, I crafted a detailed prompt for ChatGPT, which went like this:
Create a short story for adult English learners at the C1 level about New Year’s resolutions. Provide a bit of context at the start, introducing Cristina, the main character—a cheerful woman in her 40s, with blonde hair, brown eyes, and a friendly smile, who lives in Pravia, Asturias. Each page should have a brief narrative appropriate for language teaching, followed by a question related to New Year’s resolutions to engage learners. For each page, also describe the image in Pixar style, ensuring Cristina’s physical description (blonde hair, brown eyes, friendly smile) is consistently included to maintain visual continuity. Design about 10 pages for the story. Repeat cristina’s description for each image prompt.
This was my blueprint. By clearly outlining the structure, theme, and tone, ChatGPT knew exactly what I was aiming for. You’ll notice I emphasized consistency in both text and illustrations because I wanted the book to feel cohesive and visually engaging.
Step 2: Generating the Content with ChatGPT
Once I hit “send,” ChatGPT took the prompt and began generating responses that were thoughtful and perfect for my goal. The AI produced a series of pages, each with:
- A little context about New Year’s resolutions
- An engaging question about resolutions
- Suggested words or grammar structures for students
- A prompt for illustrations
Step 3: Designing the Visuals in Canva
- Choosing a Story Book: I took the content I generated with ChatGPT and jumped into Canva to design the book. In the search box, I wrote Story Book and took my pick.
- Creating the images:OK. I have the design and the text but what about the visuals? For the illustrations, I used the prompts ChatGPT provided, foung Magic Media on Canva and c pasted the prompts ChatGPT had provided for each page. I made sure the images maintained a consistent style.
Step 4: Publishing the Book – Canva + Heyzine Flipbooks = Magic!
Now that my book is ready, “How do I share this with my students or readers?” Easy! Canva has partnered up with Heyzine Flipbooks, which gives my book a whole new level of interactivity. This feature allows me to create a digital flipbook experience – just like flipping through the pages of a physical book! Oh, and did I mention it adds sound too?
But how do I take my storybook and take it to HeyZine? No worries, follow these simple steps
How to Use Heyzine Flipbooks on Canva:
- Click on the “Share” button
- Select “See All”:
- Scroll Down and Find Heyzine Flipbooks:
- Click on Heyzine Flipbooks:
And here’s the result.