A personalised book about witches and spells

Witches are a little bit spooky and a great deal of fun, and for a child that is a good mix. Pots bubble, things smell odd and you never know what a spell might do. In a book about witches and spells your child is there when it all goes wrong – a cat that turns purple, a broomstick that refuses to land – and is the one who puts everything right again. The witch does not have to be wicked. She can be forgetful, lonely or new to the area, and your child discovers that something that seems frightening can turn out to be something else entirely.

The best thing about witch stories is that the magic hardly ever works as planned. Your child can help a witch gather ingredients for a potion – a drop of dew, a laugh in a jar, a feather from a magpie – or break a spell that has turned the neighbour's dog into a teapot. Perhaps the witches are having a party and have forgotten to invite the one who lives deepest in the woods. Your child could also become apprentice to a witch whose cottage is full of drying herbs, and find out that most of her potions are really just tea.

Let your child invent the spell that appears in the book. A made-up word or a line that rhymes works well, and it is great fun to hear it read aloud. Add the family pet, who makes an excellent witch's assistant, and the things that always go wrong at home – socks that vanish, a door that squeaks – so they can be explained by magic. If your child remembers a time when something went wrong but worked out in the end, that can become the turning point of the book. A grandma who grows herbs might have exactly the one that is missing.

The youngest love the sounds: bubble, plop and whoosh. Pre-schoolers like a witch who is daft rather than dangerous. From six there can be a proper enchantment to break and a little suspense in the dark. Ten-year-olds can learn the magic themselves in the book and have to take responsibility when it grows too strong.

In Britain witches come out at Halloween, but in Sweden and Finland they turn up at Easter. Children dress up as little Easter witches, with headscarves and painted rosy cheeks, and go from door to door with home-made cards in return for sweets. The custom goes back to an old folk belief that witches flew off to a mountain to meet the devil around Easter. Today it is mostly an excuse for dressing up. Read more under Easter, or make your own broomstick from twigs and string for next time. Talk about what a kind witch would conjure up if she could choose.

You fill in the child's name, age and what they like, and upload a photo. The story about witches and spells is written for your very own child, and the thirteen pictures and the cover are drawn from the photo in the style you choose. Brothers and sisters, parents, grandparents or the pet can come along, up to five characters. If you would like to include something that has happened lately, a trip or a lost tooth, just write it and it is woven in.

The eBook is ready a few minutes after payment. Read it, change the text and ask for new pictures until you are happy. Then order it as an A4 hardback book, printed and sent to your door, or straight to the child as a gift. Do add the colouring pages. Start creating the book or read more about the prices. Would you like to see a finished book before you decide? Browse our example books.