Personalized hardcover

Your Pet and the Ten Missing Acorns

Your pet, painted from one photo into every page.

Ten acorns. Six suspects. One very good detective.

$64.99Free U.S. shipping

Printed to order. Usually at your door in about two weeks; your exact date shows before you pay.

The likeness guarantee. If the book that arrives still is not them, we repaint it or refund you.

Paint their cover — free

About a minute · no card, no account

See their painted cover free — no payment yet, pay only if it’s them
Photo reviewed the same or next business day — before printing
Replaced if it arrives damaged

Sample cover of Lucy and the Ten Missing Acorns, starring a dog

Show me this book as a…

DogCatAnother pet

Lucy is standing in. Your own pet is painted into it, with their name on the front.

A look inside

Example artwork — your book stars your own pet. Swipe or use the arrow keys for all 3.

A page from the story, starring a golden retriever: she looks up from a warm stone back step, startled, as a small red squirrel bursts through an arched gap in the hedge, paws flung wide, with a magpie and a white goose peering through behind him.

The same golden retriever lying flat in a sunny dusty lane, chin nearly on the ground, nose to nose with an old tortoise over one single acorn in the dust between them, brambles and cow parsley along the hedge behind.

The same golden retriever lying among the roots of a great oak at sunset, nose down to a split acorn with one small green shoot growing out of it, with a red squirrel, a tiny green frog and an old tortoise gathered close around it.

Look closer

Will it actually look like your pet?

It is the only question that matters, so here is our answer at full size: one customer’s photo, and the cover painted from it.

Oliver, a Boston terrier with a white blaze down his face and a blue collar, lying on a rug and looking up at the camera — the photo his owner sent. — Oliver’s cover, painted from the photo his owner sent. “It captures his little snaggle tooth perfectly — it looks exactly like him.” — Amanda G., Escalon, CA

The Great Adventure of Oliver: the same Boston terrier painted running down a coastal path — the same white blaze, the same blue collar, tongue out. — Oliver’s cover, painted from the photo his owner sent. “It captures his little snaggle tooth perfectly — it looks exactly like him.” — Amanda G., Escalon, CA

The hard ones: a black coat and a calico face

Two sample photos we painted through the same step you are about to use. Each cover came back in about a minute, from the one photo beside it.

Photo
Cover
Otisblack lab · grey muzzle · one white patch
Photo
Cover
Junipercalico · split face · green eyes

How we check

Before anything prints, a person opens your photo next to every page and checks the things that make your pet theirs: the shape of the face, the set of the ears, each marking, the collar, the way they hold themselves. A page that drifts is painted again, not shipped. And if the book that arrives still is not them, we repaint it or refund you.

About this book

A forty-page hardcover mystery told in twenty-eight pictures, all illustrated from one photo of your pet, with a dedication you write. Ten acorns go missing on Bramble Lane, a child counts them home, and the last line is theirs to say back. About eight minutes aloud.

Your pet stars in every scene — not just on the cover. Painted from one photo, with the markings that make them recognizably yours.

Art style: Painted Storybook
Format: 8.5-inch square hardcover
Length: 40 pagesOur long format — your pet painted into every one of them.
Suitable for: Ages 3–7 · and any grown-up who reads it to the dog

Just becauseBirthdayLong-distance love

OMG, it’s so cute! It captures Oliver’s little snaggle tooth perfectly — it looks exactly like him.
Amanda G., Escalon, CA · Oliver’s book

I started Illustrated You because I could not find a book that actually looked like my dog. So every book here is painted from your own photo, and a person on our team looks at the finished pages against that photo before anything goes to the printer.

Mark, founder

Before you pay a thing

See your pet on this cover first

Upload one photo and we paint their cover — free, in under a minute, with no card and no account. If it is not them, you have lost a photo and a minute.

Paint their cover — free How it works

One photo, and their nameWe tell you right away whether the photo will work.
Their cover, paintedTheir markings, their name on the front. Not a mock-up — the same painting the printed book is made from.
Then you decidePayment is the last step, after you have seen it.

What happens in it

The story

Ten acorns, counted and safe in a row. And then, one morning — none. Twitch the squirrel comes through the hedge gap like a small orange firework, Gus the goose declares an Investigation (rule one: he’s in charge), Pockets the magpie has a Plan, and everybody has a suspect. The only one anyone actually trusts is your pet — asleep on the back step, and of the firm opinion that some things matter more than a nap. Not many. But some. What follows is a proper counting mystery: acorns turn up one by one in puddles and pockets and snug little hiding places, an accusation goes wrong and has to be put right, and the tenth acorn turns out to have been busy becoming something better than lost. A whodunit where the answer isn’t a robber at all — and where your own pet is the level head that solves it.

Who it's for. For ages 3–7 — a child who can follow a mystery and count along with it. At 40 pages it’s the longest book we make, sized for a proper sit-down story rather than a quick one before bed.

The dedication

The first page is yours

Typeset exactly as you write it. Up to 2 names, a date, and about 200 characters — drawn as it prints, while you type it.

Drawn as it prints.

Before you ask

Good questions

How is this different from the other books?

It’s the longest story we make — forty pages, with a full cast of recurring characters and an actual mystery to solve. Your pet isn’t just the hero; it’s the detective the whole lane turns to.

Will my child follow it?

The mystery is built on counting to ten, so a three-year-old can track it on their fingers while a six-year-old works out where the acorns went. Gus’s pompous big words are the joke older kids get.

What kind of pet does the detective need to be?

Any animal that can plausibly nap on a back step and be adored by a squirrel — which is all of them. The lane’s own characters are drawn from reference sheets so they look the same on every page; your pet is painted from your photo.

Will the illustrated character look like my pet?

You will see before you pay. Upload one photo and we paint their cover, free, in about a minute — if it is not them, paint it again or try another photo, and you have spent nothing. In the book we keep the details that make them theirs: face shape, ears, coloring and markings, carried through every page. A sharp, well-lit photo of their face gives the best likeness, and a person on our team compares the finished pages to it before printing. If the pet inside the book is not the pet on the cover you approved, we repaint it or refund you.

What makes a good photo?

One pet, facing the camera, in good light — daylight near a window is ideal. We work from what we can actually see, so a photo where the face, coloring, and markings are sharp gives the best likeness. Avoid heavy shadow, a busy background, a costume, or a photo with two pets in it. A phone picture is completely fine; it just needs to be in focus and not cropped so tightly that the head is cut off.

Is the artwork made with AI?

Yes. We generate the illustrations with AI from the photo you upload — it is not painted by hand on paper. Every book is checked by our team before it goes to print, and we never use your photos to train AI models.

What happens to the photo I upload?

It is used to make and check your book, and then we keep it — your photo, what you typed, and the files painted from them — so we can reprint your book if something goes wrong and make your next one without asking for the same photo twice. Ask us to delete it whenever you like: email support@illustratedyou.com, or ask us to close your account. No public gallery, no advertising without asking you first, never used to train AI models.

What does $64.99 include?

A 40-page, 8.5-inch square hardcover printed to order for one animal, painted from your photo on every page, with their name on the cover and a dedication page in your words. A person checks it before it prints, shipping in the U.S. is free, and if it arrives damaged we replace it free.

The same pet, another story