REPRESENTATION MATTERS

Every child deserves to be the hero

Children’s books have a representation problem. The heroes are overwhelmingly able-bodied, typically-developed, and very often a narrow slice of what actual children look like. A child who uses a wheelchair, has Down syndrome, wears hearing aids, or lives with a visible health condition rarely sees themselves as the main character of an adventure.

We built Makesake Books specifically so that doesn’t have to be true.

How it works

When you build your child’s book, there’s an option to include a representation note — a description of a disability, health condition, or anything about your child that you’d like reflected in their story and illustrations.

This isn’t a dropdown list of conditions. It’s a free text field, because every child’s experience is different and no list of options could capture it. You describe your child in your own words, and that description goes directly into the story generation and illustration brief.

The result: a child who uses a wheelchair is illustrated in their wheelchair, as the confident hero of their adventure. A child with Down syndrome sees themselves with their actual features, not approximated away. A child with a visible prosthetic limb sees that limb, as part of who they are, not something to hide.

What we handle well

Our AI has been carefully guided to handle the following with care and accuracy:

• Mobility aids — wheelchairs, walking frames, crutches
• Sensory aids — hearing aids, cochlear implants, glasses
• Visible differences — limb differences, prosthetics, visible skin conditions
• Chromosomal conditions — Down syndrome and others
• Neurodivergence — autism, ADHD and related characteristics that parents want reflected
• Medical equipment — feeding tubes, oxygen support, and similar

The representation is always affirming. Your child’s condition or difference is part of who they are — it’s shown as part of the hero, not as the story’s focus or obstacle unless you specifically want it to be.

What we’re still improving

We’re honest about the fact that AI illustration of representation is not perfect. Wheelchair depictions can vary. Medical equipment can sometimes be imprecise. We have an automatic quality review system that checks illustrations against story text, but it doesn’t catch everything.

If an illustration doesn’t capture your child the way you hoped, contact us. We’ll repaint it — at no charge. This matters enough to us that we won’t accept “good enough” as the standard.

Email us at stories@makesakebooks.com if you have any questions before ordering, or if you’d like to discuss your child’s specific representation needs before building their book.

For schools and inclusion classrooms

We work with schools to create books for whole classrooms, including classrooms with students who have diverse needs. For school orders, we recommend contacting us directly so we can discuss representation requirements for individual students — this is better handled in conversation than through a form.

Learn about school and group orders →