I’m always on the lookout for projects in the Shutterfly Gallery that can connect young children with photo books. TiffanyM198’s “Color” is an original example I had not seen before.

LisaH26’s “Calvert Street Mural” tells the story of a community art project at Calvert Street Elementary School. We get to meet the artists, see how they sketch out each drawing before the over 200 painters (teachers, students, parents and community members), and then enjoy the finished project. In addition to the photos, we learn about the reaction of the school and community to the effort.

Some of the most copied books in the gallery are amateur publishing efforts by parents writing a story for their child. Several examples I’ve already seen being copied by others include the stuffed animal as adventurer story (i.e. “Runny Babbit” by NinjaLlama) and the prophetic profession book (i.e. “When I Grow Up” by JessiW).

Photo book portfolios created to showcase someone’s photography, artwork, or hand-made jewelry has been another type of ‘story’ I’ve found in the Shutterfly Gallery. A fun and practical variation on this idea is the children’s artwork portfolio. A tongue-in-cheek example was added to the Gallery by Shutterfly’s own Eugene-C “The abstract art of my 3 year old nephew” was created as a gift

CharityM6’s’ Spiderboy is completely original and fun because it comes straight from a child’s imagination. Charity’s 3-year-old son made up his own story about his alter ego, Spiderboy, and had Mom take some shots of Spiderboy in action to accompany his words. The process was simple, but the outcome was priceless.

I’ve been overwhelmed by the variety of stories that our photo book creators have added to the Shutterfly Gallery. The vast majority reflect real life experiences, but a couple have been fictional stories written in most cases for children to enjoy.