A human review checklist before you share or publish a kids book

AI tools make it quick to produce a lot of pages. That speed is exactly why the review step matters: it is easy to end up with a book that looks fine as thumbnails and has problems you only notice on paper, or in front of a child. This is the checklist we use. Copy it, change it, and make it yours.

1. The pictures

Go through every page, one at a time, ideally printed at full size.

• Can you recognise the main subject in a second or two?
• Any odd anatomy: extra legs, merged animals, a tail coming out of the wrong place?
• Any letters, numbers, logos or squiggles that look like writing inside the picture?
• Are the lines solid black on white, with no grey shading or speckles?
• Are all shapes closed, so color stays where it is meant to?
• Is any region so small it would be hard to fill with a crayon?
• Is anything important cut off at the edge of the page?
• Is anything about a face, shadow or pose unsettling for a young child?

Across the whole book

• Is the main character the same on every page: species, shape, signature item? Our character consistency guide has a fuller list.
• Are any two pages so alike they feel like a repeat?
• Do the pages follow a sensible order, such as a day, a journey or gently rising detail?

2. The words

Even a coloring book has a title, a cover and usually a page or two of front matter. Story and activity books have much more.

• Spelling and grammar on every page, including the cover and spine.
• Read every line aloud. Does it flow? Is there anything a parent would stumble over?
• Names: is the character called the same thing everywhere?
• Any fact, such as an animal name or where a bird lives, checked against a reliable source.
• No claims you cannot back up. Avoid saying a book improves skills or development unless it has been properly tested.

3. The files

A PDF that opens on your screen is not automatically ready for a printer or a print-on-demand service.

• The page size is the one you intended: A4, US Letter, or the exact KDP trim size.
• The page count is what you expect, including blank pages, and is even for a paperback.
• Images are sharp at print size. Look closely at a printed page for blur or blocky edges.
• For a paperback, the interior and cover sizes match KDP's current specifications. See our KDP sizes and margins guide.
• You have printed at least a few pages at home, and for a paperback, ordered a physical proof copy.

4. Rights and honesty

• Every character is original. No characters, logos or artwork from films, TV, games or other books.
• No text copied from other books.
• If you sell on a marketplace, you have read its rules. On KDP that includes telling it about AI-generated content.
• Your book description says honestly what the book is: how many pages, what kind of pages, and for whom.
• If the book is personalised, it uses a nickname or an imagined character, not a child's full name, photo or school.

5. The child test

If you can, give a printed copy to a child the book is meant for and watch, without steering. Do they know what to do on each page? Do they get stuck anywhere? Do they enjoy it? This is not a study and it does not prove anything about learning, but it is the fastest way to find a page that does not work.

Keep a record

Make a note of what you checked, what you changed and when you approved the book. A simple list is enough. Next time, you will see at a glance which problems tend to come up, and if anyone asks how the book was made, you will have an answer.

If you are using Kids Books Maker, each page shows its own check results and approval state, and you can regenerate or replace any page before approving. Ready to try it? Create a book.