Printable Storybook (#1)

Two of my grandchildren do not live in the same town as I do. We communicate often, using FaceTime. As we share time together, I frequently tell stories. I searched the internet for some simple, easy-to-print little books, and found none.

So I made my own, and I am now sharing my little books with others.

I hope you enjoy this first book. If you like it, add a comment!

Write a story.

Divide the story into fourteen pages, including pictures.

Page one is always the cover.

Page two is usually blank.

Page three is the actual start of the story.

Pages 4-5, 6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13 and 14-15 are "spreads" so if words and pictures go together, plan accordingly.

For the attached PDF example, here is the plan:

Page One: Title: The First M-bot Story

Page Two: blank

Page Three: One day, M-bot decided to dig a hole. It would be a BIG hole. It would be a DEEP hole. So M-bot looked for a shovel. (Small picture of M-bot and shovel)

Pages Four and Five: Along came R-bot. "What are you doing?" asked R-bot. "I am going outside to dig a hole," answered M-bot. "I will come with you," announced R-bot. (picture of M-bot on the left, with shovel. R-bot on the right)

Pages Six and Seven: M-bot went into the back yard. He started to dig. At first, the digging was easy. When M-bot stepped in the hole, R-bot could not see M-bot's feet. (picture of M-bot with feet in hole)

Pages Eight and Nine: M-bot kept digging. Now, when M-bot stepped into the hole, it came up to his buttons. (M-bot in hole, up to the robot equivalent of a chest) R-bot clapped and said, "M-bot, your hole is getting very deep!" M-bot answered, "But it is not deep enough!"

Pages Ten and Eleven: M-bot kept on digging. He was getting very dirty. He was getting very tired. He climbed out of the hole and sat down to rest. M-bot was so tired that he fell asleep. (picture of M-bot, sleeping, on page ten.) While M-bot was sleeping, he had a dream. In the dream, M-bot dug a very very deep hole. It went down, down, down. Then it went sideways. (picture of hole)

Pages Twelve and Thirteen: In the dream, M-bot's hole went very, very far. At the very end of the hole, there were two shiny rocks. M-bot put the shiny rocks in his compartment. Then M-bot climbed out of the hole. Pages

Fourteen and Fifteen: When M-bot woke up, he saw that R-bot was sitting beside him. He told R-bot all about his dream. R-bot said, "Let's look in your hole. Maybe PART of the dream will come true!" So M-bot and R-bot looked down into M-bot's tiny hole. SURPRISE! There were two shiny rocks in the hole, just like the rocks in M-bot's dream.

Page Sixteen: M-bot and R-bot each put a shiny rock in their compartments. They were happy for the rest of the day. THE END

I am fortunate enough to have Adobe InDesign, so I use a sixteen-page template over and over again.

If you are making books on your own, the diagram above may help you plan the pages.

It takes two minutes to sew the pages together. This is MUCH safer than stapling!

If you like this story (and this method of sharing PDF's) please add a comment below.