20 picture book ideas you can turn into a KDP book
Here are 20 original picture book ideas for Amazon KDP: baby and toddler books, read-aloud picture books, ABC books and counting books, each written as one sentence with an age range and, where it matters, an art style. Use one as it is or change it, and “Start this book” opens kdpbook.io with the idea already typed in.
By kdpbook.io editorialPublished
Picture book
32-page illustrated story with read-aloud text.
- No. 1
“A picture book for ages 3–5 about a hedgehog who is nervous on the first day of forest school and meets a friend who is nervous too, in soft watercolor”
Start this book → - No. 2
“A rhyming picture book about a grandmother and her grandson who build a scarecrow and grow a vegetable garden from spring to autumn”
Start this book → - No. 3
“A picture book for ages 4–6 about a lighthouse keeper’s cat who helps keep the lamp burning through a stormy night”
Start this book → - No. 4
“A picture book about a girl who uses a wheelchair and designs the kite everyone remembers at the town’s kite festival, in bright gouache”
Start this book → - No. 5
“A picture book about moving day, told by the family’s old armchair, which worries it will be left behind”
Start this book → - No. 6
“A picture book for ages 3–6 about a bored cloud that tries being rain, snow and fog before deciding what it likes best”
Start this book → - No. 7
“A bilingual English-Spanish picture book about a boy who helps his grandmother make tamales for a family party”
Start this book → - No. 8
“A picture book about two squirrels who argue over one giant acorn until a storm makes them share a shelter”
Start this book → - No. 9
“A calm picture book about a child and a parent who notice five quiet things on an evening walk, in colored pencil”
Start this book →
Baby & toddler book
First words, colors and animals in big bright pictures.
- No. 10
“A baby book for ages 0–2 about the sounds a farm makes in the morning, one big animal per page in bold flat colors”
Start this book → - No. 11
“A first-words book for toddlers built around bath time (duck, bubbles, towel, toes), one object per page on a plain background”
Start this book → - No. 12
“A toddler book about colors in which a small snail passes a red door, a yellow boot and a green leaf on its way home, in paper-cutout collage”
Start this book → - No. 13
“A goodnight book for ages 1–3 in which a little bear says goodnight to one thing in its room on every page, in calm night blues”
Start this book →
ABC book
A to Z, one letter and one big picture per page.
- No. 14
“An ABC book of sea creatures from anglerfish to zebra shark, one big friendly animal per letter”
Start this book → - No. 15
“An alphabet book of things in a kitchen, from apron to zester, in a warm mid-century storybook style”
Start this book → - No. 16
“An ABC book of feelings for ages 3–5, from angry to zany, with one child showing each feeling”
Start this book →
Counting book
Count from 1 to 10 with pictures to point at.
- No. 17
“A counting book from 1 to 10 set at the beach: one sun, two buckets, three crabs, up to ten shells”
Start this book → - No. 18
“A garden counting book: one watering can, two snails, three tulips, up to ten ladybugs, in bright gouache”
Start this book → - No. 19
“A bedtime counting book that counts from one moon to ten sleepy sheep as a village falls asleep, one number per spread”
Start this book → - No. 20
“A counting book of vehicles for ages 2–4: one fire truck, two tractors, three buses, up to ten bicycles”
Start this book →
“Start this book” opens a new chat in kdpbook.io with the idea as your first message and its book type selected (you sign in or create a free account first). kdpbook replies with a plan (format, length, characters, art style) and shows a credit estimate before the book is generated. Planning-chat messages are metered: about 25 credits for the first one and about 8 after that. New accounts get 2,000 free credits once, with no card required.
3 ways to make an idea your own
- 01
Add one detail only you would add.
A grandmother’s yellow raincoat, the name of your street, the song your family sings in the car: one specific detail turns a common theme into your book, and it gives the illustrations something to hold on to.
- 02
Read it aloud in your head first.
Picture books are read aloud. Decide between rhyme and prose, think of a line children can repeat, and keep each page short. You can change the plan in the chat before the book is generated, and edit any sentence afterwards in the editor.
- 03
Invent your own characters.
Describe your hero in one line (animal or child, clothes, one detail) instead of borrowing a famous one. kdpbook draws a reference sheet for each main character and reuses it on every page, so your character looks the same from the first page to the last.
Before you publish
- Declare AI-generated content. KDP requires you to tell it about AI-generated text, images or translations when you publish a book, or edit and republish it. Content you wrote yourself and only edited with AI tools counts as AI-assisted and needs no disclosure. The listing sheet kdpbook exports suggests the answers from what was actually generated.
- Make sure you own what is inside. KDP asks publishers to make sure their books don’t violate copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other rights, and it doesn’t allow undifferentiated versions of public-domain titles when a free version is already in its store. Leave out famous characters and brands, and add something new when you retell an old tale.
- Keep the listing honest. KDP’s keyword rules exclude brands you aren’t authorized to use and the names of authors not associated with your book, and its content rules exclude descriptions that don’t match what is inside.
- Read every page. KDP reviews every book itself, so no tool can promise that a book is accepted, sells or earns anything. You are the publisher: check the text, the pictures and the facts before you click Publish.
You can use, change and combine these ideas for your own books, with or without kdpbook. In the United States, copyright never protects an idea as such (17 U.S.C. § 102(b)); the Copyright Office explains that protection extends only to the original expression in a work, not to the idea underneath. This is general information, not legal advice.
Sources · read on
- KDP Help: Content Guidelines (AI-generated content) (opens in a new tab)
- KDP Help: Keywords (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. § 102(b) (opens in a new tab)
- U.S. Copyright Office: Works Not Protected by Copyright (Circular 33) (opens in a new tab)
The ideas are original and written for kdpbook.io; they are not ranked and come with no sales or demand data. Kindle Direct Publishing and KDP are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc.; kdpbook.io is independent and not affiliated with Amazon.
Have your own picture book idea?
Type it in one sentence. kdpbook plans the book and shows the credit estimate before anything is generated.
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