Hooray Heroes in Australia: prices, delivery and an alternative

Hooray Heroes draws its books by hand (“every detail hand-drawn”), and the look is warm and consistent. You build a cartoon version of the child with detailed avatar choices, and it goes into a set story. Its range now leads with books about dogs.

Its Australian site sells a book at A$69.99, often with discount codes, and says books are made in Australia and shipped in 3 days. It has 6,631 Trustpilot reviews averaging 4.2 (checked September 2026). If you value the hand-drawn look above a story of their own, it may suit you better.

The story is fixed, so the avatar carries all the personalisation, and an avatar can only do so much. It won’t look exactly like your child the way a book made from their photo can, and the story can’t be about something that happened to them.

You tell us about the child: who they are, the people and pets around them, a real day you want kept. We write their story, and every picture is made from their photo. Any name, spelled their way, goes into the story itself. A person checks every page before it prints.

3 people are included and up to 6 fit in one book, $15 each from the fourth. You read the whole story and see the cover and the first two pages before you pay. The Hardcover is $99 and the Keepsake, which adds a 6-photo album and an online copy of the book, is $119, both delivered with GST included. Printed in Australia or New Zealand.

We are newer, with far fewer reviews than Hooray Heroes. A Paperlake Hardcover costs more than a Hooray Heroes book, and it takes up to 3 days to make, then up to 10 business days in the post.

A book made from a photo is less predictable than an avatar you built yourself. That is why you read the whole story and see the cover and the first two pages before you pay, and if you’re not happy with it, send us a photo and we’ll reprint it. No questions asked.

Hooray Heroes is a hand-drawn template with an avatar; Paperlake is a story written for them, with pictures made from their photo. Both are fair answers to “I want a personalised book”.

Choose Hooray Heroes if the hand-drawn look matters more than how personal the story is, or you want a matching collection. Choose Paperlake if you want the child to be in the book. The trade-off is a newer brand and a higher price.

1. Hooray Heroes Australia: A$69.99, “Made in Australia … shipped in 3 days”, “Every detail hand-drawn” (checked 25 September 2026)
2. Hooray Heroes on Trustpilot: 4.2 from 6,631 reviews (checked 25 September 2026)
3. How Paperlake compares brands