AI Story Books

AI Story Books turn an idea — or your own material — into an illustrated picture book. Scholarly writes a warm, age-appropriate story, illustrates every page in a consistent art style with the same characters throughout, and delivers a page-by-page book in your library you can read, share, and reuse.

Story Books are a great fit for tutoring a young learner, building a fun explainer for a hard topic, or turning a chapter into something a child can actually sit through.

Creating a Story Book

Open the AI Story Books option from the home page bento grid or the New menu. The create modal works the same way as Scholarly's other AI tools:

• Prompt AI — describe a story in your own words. No source file needed.
• Upload Files — drop in a PDF, notes, slides, or images and Scholarly writes the story around that material.
• Library — pick something you've already uploaded.

You can also start from a folder — anything you create from inside a folder is filed there automatically. See Folders and Organization.

Art Styles

Pick the visual style your book is illustrated in:

• Classic Storybook — Warm, rounded, picture-book illustrations.
• Soft Watercolor — Gentle watercolor with hand-drawn lines.
• Bright & Playful — Bold colors and high-energy characters.
• Dreamy Pastel — Soft pastel palette, calm and reflective.

The AI keeps the same characters and look across every page so the book reads as one piece, not a series of unrelated images.

Customization Options

• Custom instructions — Free-text field to steer the story (lead character, age range, tone, moral, page count).
• Custom Design — Apply a saved Custom Design to lock in your own consistent style across every story book you make.
• AI model — Paid users can swap in a different model if they want a different writing style. See Choosing an AI Model.

What You Get

Each finished book includes:

• A cover page with the title and a hero illustration.
• A page-by-page narrative with text and an illustration on every page.
• A consistent set of characters drawn the same way throughout.

The book opens in a built-in reader. Flip through with arrow keys, tap to advance on mobile, or scroll the whole thing on one page.

Length and Generation

Story Books take a few minutes to generate — illustrating every page is heavier than writing a study guide or a deck. You can close the tab and come back; Scholarly finishes the book in the background and surfaces it in your library when it's ready. See Background Tasks.

If a longer story doesn't finish in one go on a particularly long ask, the AI now adapts: it gives you the best complete book your source can support rather than timing out.

Sharing and Downloading

Open the book's menu to:

• Share the book with anyone via a link (great for sending to family members).
• Open in a new tab for reading distraction-free.
• Delete or move to a folder.

Story Books live alongside your other content — search for them in the Command Palette or pin them on the home page.

Tips

• The more specific your custom instructions, the more on-target the story. "A 6-year-old who learns about photosynthesis through a friendly leaf named Mossy" beats "a story about plants."
• Reuse a Custom Design when you're building a series — every book in the series will share a look.
• Story Books are great for teaching adults too, especially for topics where a friendly framing helps. Bumping up the reading level in your instructions makes the writing match.

Related

• Plans and Limits — daily AI generation limits.
• Custom Designs — save and reuse your own art direction.
• Background Tasks — close the create window; Scholarly finishes the book in the background.