If you are buying a personalised book for a Black or African child, the first thing to find out is how the child gets into the pictures. There are two ways. Most brands give you a character builder: you pick a skin tone, a hairstyle and a hair colour from a set of options, and the illustrator's character is adjusted to match. A few draw the child from a photograph instead. Neither is wrong. A builder is quick and predictable, and you can usually preview the whole book. A photo gets closer to one particular child, which matters most when their hair or features are not on anybody's list. We make one of these books, so read this with that in mind. Everything below about another brand comes from its own website, read on 11 October 2026, and the pages are linked at the end. Prices and options change, so check before you buy. At a glance Gli Books. How your child is drawn: From one photo, into a story set at Kakum in Ghana. Price (UK): £24.99 + £4.00 UK delivery. Preview before paying: Two finished pages, free. Delivers to: Ghana, the UK, the US and Canada. Ages: 0–6. Wonderbly. How your child is drawn: One of several character designs, with hair and skin tone options. Price (UK): From £21.99. Preview before paying: The whole story. Delivers to: Many countries, chosen at checkout. Ages: Newborn to teens, by book. Hooray Heroes. How your child is drawn: A builder: skin tone, hairstyle and colour, eyes, glasses, freckles. Price (UK): £24.99 on sale (listed at £49.99). Preview before paying: The whole book, on at least some titles. Delivers to: Shops in 14 countries. Ages: 0–12. Magical Children's Book. How your child is drawn: From uploaded photos, in a theme you choose. Price (UK): £6.99 eBook, then £26.99 hardcover. Preview before paying: The eBook you buy is the proof. Delivers to: The UK, the US, Canada and more. Ages: 0 to 10+. Dinkleboo. How your child is drawn: A builder: skin tone, hair colour and style. Price (UK): US shop: from $17.99 on sale. Preview before paying: The whole story. Delivers to: US shop only. Ages: 0–8. Wonderbly: a wide range Wonderbly has been making personalised books since 2013, with a wide range from newborns to teenagers and for most occasions. You choose a character design, adjust the hair and skin tone, add a dedication, and preview the whole story before you buy. Its UK shop lists books from £21.99, and its When You Were Born page says books are dispatched in 2–4 working days. Choose Wonderbly for an occasion or an age nobody else covers, or when you need a book soon. Look for your child's hairstyle in the builder first: the product page promises a selection of hair options but does not name them. Hooray Heroes: the most detailed builder Hooray Heroes goes further than most builders, with skin tone, hairstyle and colour, eye shape and colour, glasses and freckles. It also has books for two children, for parents and for pets. Its UK shop shows most titles at £24.99 on sale, and its shipping page says books are made and sent within 3 business days. Choose Hooray Heroes if you want two children, a parent or a pet in the same book, or if glasses and freckles matter. Its US site offers a preview of every page on at least some titles; its UK shop does not mention one, so check the title you want. Magical Children's Book: photos, any theme Magical Children's Book also works from uploaded photos, and you pick the story's theme. You buy an eBook first for £6.99, which you can read and edit, and the hardcover is then £26.99. Its help page says the hardcover cannot be returned, orders can be cancelled within 2 hours, and photos are kept for as long as your account exists unless you delete them. Choose it if you want a photo-based book set somewhere other than Africa, or several people from photos in one book. Read the eBook closely, because that version is the one that gets printed. Dinkleboo: in the US, on a budget Dinkleboo's main site is a US shop, with books from $17.99 on sale, a builder that covers skin tone and hair, and a full preview. It says plainly that it does not use real photos, and that books leave its factories within 1–3 business days. Gli Books: drawn from a photo, set in Ghana Our book draws your child from one photo onto all fourteen spreads of Aseye and the Bridge in the Sky, a story about a child who is frightened of the canopy walkway at Kakum National Park in Ghana and crosses it anyway. The second character is a reading buddy you choose: an auntie, a grandpa, a big sister, a godmother. You see two finished pages with your child in them before you pay anything, and the photo is deleted once your book goes to print, within 7 days of upload at the latest. Where we are weaker: we have one title, and it is set in Ghana. We deliver to Ghana, the UK, the US and Canada only. A book takes 1–2 weeks from your order, printing included, with one delivery option; Wonderbly and Hooray Heroes both say they dispatch within a few days. It costs £24.99 + £4.00 UK delivery, or GHS 199 + GHS 50 delivery in Ghana. Which one, then A book that looks like one particular child, especially their hair: a photo-based book. Ours if you want Africa, Magical Children's Book if you want somewhere else. A particular occasion, an older child, or the most choice: Wonderbly. Two children, a parent or a pet in one book: Hooray Heroes. In the US and watching the price: Dinkleboo. Needed within the week: not us. Wonderbly and Hooray Heroes both say they dispatch within a few days. Which personalised books let you choose Black hairstyles? Wonderbly, Hooray Heroes and Dinkleboo all have hair options in their character builders, but none names the styles on the pages we read, so look for your child's style before buying. Photo-based books, such as Gli Books and Magical Children's Book, draw the hair from the photo instead. Is a photo-based personalised book an exact likeness? No. It is an illustration in the book's own style, so expect a likeness rather than a portrait. That is why we show two finished pages before you pay, and why Magical Children's Book sells you the eBook before the hardcover. Which personalised books deliver to Ghana? Gli Books delivers within Ghana: the paperback is GHS 199 + GHS 50 delivery in Ghana, and you can pay with mobile money. Wonderbly lists Ghana among its delivery countries. For the others, check the delivery countries at checkout.