Mumablue or IrayaBooks: an avatar you build yourself or their face drawn from a photo

The Mumablue editor, piece by piece

You type the name, tick boy or girl and the character is built up tab by tab. For a child:

• Skin: six tones, with or without freckles.
• Hair: 16 cuts for boys and 26 for girls (curls, afro, dreadlocks, shaved, plaits, even a headscarf), in 13 colours.
• Eyes and eyebrows: two eye shapes and seven colours; the eyebrows, in 13.
• Glasses and hearing aid: two frames and five colours. For girls, earrings and a bow as well.

It's one of the most complete editors we've seen. What you can't choose is the face itself: the shape, the nose and the smile belong to the house character. Adults get more options: build, nose, lips and even wrinkles.

The child's photo: where does it appear in each book?

Mumablue also lets you upload a photo, but not to draw your child from it: it goes on the last page, next to the dedication. If you don't upload one, the avatar appears there instead. In the rest of the story, the main character is the figure you built.

At IrayaBooks the photo is the starting point. From it we draw your child into every scene of a story that's already written and illustrated, and because every page starts from an approved illustration, it's the same child from the cover to the end. You don't have to decide whether their hair is “short curly” or “slightly wavy”: it comes out as theirs. More in name or face.

“Juntos” and our stories with two main characters

“Juntos” is the family book their website puts front and centre: up to two adults and three children (parents, aunts and uncles, grandparents or godparents) and a story in which putting the washing machine on turns into an underwater expedition. They have others with two children, such as one about the arrival of a new baby brother or sister, or “Chucheritis”, and books for mum or dad with up to three children.

We go up to two faces per book: two siblings in The Mystery of the Torn Map and The Magic Button, or a mum and her baby in The Arms That Rock You. One photo of the two of them together works, or one of each. With a baby under six months, the cover is only a guide: the likeness gets much better from that age on.

What you see, what you pay and when it arrives

Here Mumablue has two clear advantages: it lets you flick through the book, in low resolution, before paying, and it's a little cheaper.

Most of their single-child stories cost €31.90; “Juntos” is €34.99, plus €6.99 delivery according to their basket. They're 44-page hardbacks, about 22 cm; “Juntos” is printed in 14 languages, including Catalan, Basque and Galician. Ours: 20 × 20 cm hardback, 33 pages and five languages (Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Galician and English). A person checks them page by page before printing and, if you don't like how it's turned out, we redo it for free, once.

What each one asks of you before showing you the book

• Mumablue: choosing the story, building each character tab by tab (up to five in “Juntos”), language, relationship, typeface, dedication and, if you like, the photo. In return, you can flick through it in low resolution.
• IrayaBooks: name, age, boy or girl, your email and a photo. Within a couple of minutes you see their cover with their face; if you're not convinced, you try another photo.

In short: Mumablue suits you if you want the whole family in one story, you're after a licensed character (they have Frozen, Toy Story, Miraculous and FC Barcelona) or you'd rather flick through it before paying; there are 32 stories, plus a colouring book and a calendar. IrayaBooks suits you if what you want is to really see your child, with their own face, hair and expression in every scene they appear in, including when it's two siblings or a mum and her baby.

Our books

The Mystery of the Torn MapSiblings aged 2 to 10The Magic ButtonSiblings aged 2 to 10The Arms That Rock YouMama and baby (0 to 1)Super Hero Saves the CityAges 2 to 8Dinosaur ValleyAges 2 to 8The Sock PlanetAges 2 to 8

Frequently asked questions