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Plan an 8-page picture book for your grandchild

  • For Parents and households
  • You practice Asking for a format you can use
  • Time about 5 minutes

About this exercise

You're making a homemade picture book for your granddaughter's 4th birthday. Get exactly 8 numbered pages formatted "1. Text: ... | Picture: ...", with each page's text under 15 words, under 230 words in total, plain text. The story is about her first day at preschool, with her dog Biscuit, and it should be brave, not scary. The last page's text is exactly "Tomorrow, Zara will go again."

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Getting a story, not pages. The AI writes one flowing story with no page breaks or picture ideas. Try: Show it: "1. Text: ... | Picture: ..." and say "exactly 8 pages".
  • Skipping her worries. The AI writes a cheerful generic first day that never answers what Zara's actually afraid of. Try: Add: "Show that a friend plays with her and Mommy comes back at 12:30."
  • Pictures too hard to draw. AI picture notes describe busy scenes with many characters. Try: Add: "Each picture: one or two simple things I can draw in colored pencil."
  • No ending line. The AI ends with 'The End' or a moral instead of your line. Try: Add: "Page 8 text: Tomorrow, Zara will go again."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total and it often lands 20% over. Try: Cap each page: "text under 15 words, picture under 10 words."
  • Forgetting where it's going. AI adds bold and headings that show up as stray symbols in a printed draft. Try: Add: "Plain text, no bold, no headings."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Shows the page shape
  • Uses her real worries
  • Keeps pictures simple
  • Gives the last line
  • Says how many pages

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