One book each, instead of a class yearbook
A yearbook gives thirty children the same book. This gives thirty children thirty different books, each starring its own child. What each costs, honestly.
Every year your setting sells families a book. It has the group photo in it, and the class list, and the same forty pages for everyone. Children look at it once. This is the same money and the same routine - you organise it, the families pay, one box arrives - except that each child opens a book with their own name on the cover and their own face on every page.
Leo the Superhero
Maya Among the Stars
Goodnight, LilyWhat a yearbook is
A group record: one layout, the class and the staff in it, thirty identical copies, and space in the back for signatures.
Why a yearbook stays on the shelf
Most children appear two or three times in it, and one child appears on the cover. Ask any parent which page they turned to first and they will name the one their own child is on - and then say there were only two.
It is a record, not a story. A four-year-old cannot read a yearbook. They can be read a story in which they are the person who does the brave thing, and at that age that is a different kind of object entirely.
It goes on a shelf in a house where nobody opens it, because the thing that makes a book get opened again is a child recognising themselves in it.
What the money actually looks like
A class book here is a hardcover, twelve illustrated chapters, one per child, at $36.47 each for a class of ten and $34.32 for a class of thirty, plus one delivery charge for the whole parcel.
For a similar annual spend, the choice is between one book everybody shares and thirty children each opening a book of their own.
It also does not have to come out of your budget at all. You choose at the start whether the setting pays for the class or whether each family buys their own child's book from the link you send them. Under the second option your setting spends nothing and takes no risk.
Collecting the photos is built in
Each book needs one photograph from home, so your class page shows you exactly who has sent one and who has not - you chase the few names still outstanding rather than the whole list. You can re-send a link, and if a family never responds you can leave that child out at the end: their book is refunded to whoever paid for it when you send the rest to print.
So a class order is never held up by one family.
The group, or one child
A yearbook holds the group; this holds one child, the hero of their own book.
If you are choosing for a single year, ask which one a five-year-old will want read to them again.
| Class yearbook | One book each | |
|---|---|---|
| What each child gets | The same book as everyone else | Their own book, their own name on the cover |
| Times a child appears | Usually two or three photos | Every page of twelve chapters |
| Who pays | The families, usually | The setting or the families - you choose |
| What you have to collect | Photos of everyone, plus a layout | One photo per child, sent by the parent |
| Read again after the first week | Rarely | It is a bedtime story |
Common questions
How much does it cost to make a yearbook?
A yearbook gives every child the same book, and most children appear in it two or three times. A personalised hardcover here, one per child, is $34.32 each for a class of thirty, plus one delivery charge for the parcel, with the child on every page of twelve chapters.
Is this meant to replace our yearbook?
A yearbook holds the group; this holds one child, the hero of their own book. If you are choosing for a single year, ask which one a five-year-old will want read to them again.
How much does it cost per child?
A hardcover is $36.47 each from 5 children, $35.18 from twenty and $34.32 from thirty, plus a single delivery charge for the whole parcel quoted to your address before you pay anything. The minimum class is 5 children.
Does the school have to pay for it?
No. You choose at the start. Either the setting pays for the whole class, or each family buys their own child's book from the link you send them - in which case the setting pays nothing and carries no risk, which is the same arrangement most schools already use for yearbooks.
What happens if a parent never sends a photo?
You can leave that child out when you send the rest to print, and their book is refunded automatically to whoever paid for it. Your class page shows you who is outstanding so you can chase the four families who have not replied rather than the whole list.
How long does it take?
The books are made as the photos arrive, so the timeline is set by your slowest parent rather than by us. Once the class is complete and you approve it, printing and delivery takes about six days to a UK address and nine to ten inside the United States.
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See the whole thing - the story, a real chapter of it and the full price - before you commit a class.
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