Who's behind this
Ben Gelb
Previously at Typeform and Chessable
“I wanted them to see themselves inside a story, even from far away.”
Ben has spent his career building products people genuinely love to use.
He built TeddyReads for his niece and nephew, who live far away, so they could open a book and see themselves as the hero of it. He built the whole thing end to end — the illustration pipeline, the read-aloud narration, and the printed books that ship to your door.
About TeddyReads
TeddyReads creates personalized, illustrated children's picture books from a photo or description, narrates them aloud, and optionally prints and ships a real, hardbound copy.
Make their book →Where we are
TeddyReads is live and fully launched. Anyone can create a personalized book today: the first book is free, and a printed hardcover or softcover copy can be ordered and shipped to 53 countries.
Every book is made on demand by the product described below, using real photos and descriptions from parents. Books can be read in the browser, listened to in the parent's own voice, edited page by page, and printed.
TeddyReads launched in July 2026, and real customers have been creating and ordering books ever since.
How it works
Here is the product as customers use it, from the first chat to a printed book.
- Chat with Teddy, our guide, about who the book is for and what it should be about.
- Add a photo of the child so the character looks like them, and an optional sidekick or pet.
- Pick an art style from twelve options, and the book is written and illustrated in a few minutes.
- Read it, flag any picture that looks off and have it redrawn, and edit the text, fonts and colors.
- Listen to it read aloud, in a ready-made voice or in a parent's own cloned voice.
- Order a printed hardcover or softcover copy, delivered to your door.
What's included
- A 22-page illustrated picture book starring your child, with their name on the cover
- Twelve art styles, from classic watercolor to clay and comic
- Books written in English, Spanish, French or Portuguese
- Photo-based likeness for the child and an optional sidekick
- A built-in quality check, plus one-tap redraws for any picture that looks off
- An editor for the text, fonts, colors, cover title and the whole art style
- Read-aloud narration in ready-made voices or your own cloned voice
- Printed on demand as a hardcover or softcover, shipped to 53 countries
- Shareable web link, PDF download, and photos deleted once the book is finished
See it in action
TeddyReads at a glance
- Founded
- 2026, by Ben Gelb
- Live since
- July 2026
- Based in
- Barcelona, Spain
- What we do
- Personalized children's picture books: written, illustrated, narrated aloud, and printed on demand.
- Available in
- English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Printed books ship to 53 countries.
- Ben Gelb · TeddyReads
- Contact
- [email protected]