Students Illustrate Original Storybooks with AI

Students in the Writers Studio senior elective class completed an assignment to create original children’s storybooks and illustrate them using AI.

English teacher Mike Mahany was looking for a fun and creative way to give his Writers Studio students a “break” from the traditional essay writing they had been engaged with in the fall due to college application season, so he asked students to create children’s books of their own design, complete with text and illustration.

As part of this assignment, students had to read one beloved children’s book from their childhood and one that was entirely new to them. Mahany then led them in a conversation about what they saw as they read, the elements of a successful children’s book and ideas they gleaned from their reading.

Thinking of the creative elements of these new stories, Mahany reached out to Middle and Upper School Librarian and Integrated Learning and Information Sciences teacher Annette Lesak for suggestions on how students could use current AI tools creatively and efficiently to illustrate their texts. After some experimentation, Lesak directed Mahany and his students to the AI components of the online graphic design platform Canva to complete the illustrations and design of their books.

Lesak helped students use Canva’s text-to-image technology to generate illustrations and came up with specific prompts for the AI to match the text of their story. Through this process, students learned some firsthand lessons about the pitfalls of using artificial intelligence. Lesak also led students in a review of Canva AI terms of service and made sure to give acknowledgments in the books, specifically stating AI was used to generate the images. 

After completing the books, the seniors, who had worked in pairs, connected with 1st graders in Bev “Greenie” Greenberg’s class to share and discuss their books.

According to Mahany, “The assignment was a huge success, and I think that the seniors and 1st graders would agree.”

Click here to view photos from this experience, and click on any of the titles below to enjoy the students’ work!