Seeding Books
Perserving Imagination as a Living Archive/or Through Storymanking
Some time ago, I came across a photo of the seed bank in Norway. It is like Noah's Ark, and that image intrigued me.
I've always been astonished by children's imagination—their freedom, their honesty, the way their ideas emerge so naturally. I started to question myself, in the age of AI, when things can be created in a finger snap, how can we preserve the original idea? Could we build a kind of seed vault—not for plants, but for human thought? Could such a vault become meaningful data for future AI training?
My love for books also kicked in, and it inspired me to use books as the medium to carry out children's imagination, in a literary and visual way.
Background
Problem
How to preserve the imaginative spark and originality of children’s stories in the age of generative AI?How to guide children in transforming fragmentary ideas into full narrative structures through visual storytelling?How might AI be integrated as a co-creator or developmental tool to support children’s early creative writing?
Approach
Concept
To inspire the project, I created a symbolic narrative:
Pre-class
Survey
Before the class, we sent student a questionnaire to fill out that includes questions:
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The class starts brainstorming the character/protagonist, the instructor asks questions to inspire the students. For example: what is your favorite animal? what is its occupation? what is its hobby?
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Find reference: we bring books and examples to the class to have the students to find out their favorite book and character and discussion why they like it
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Text draft writing: The writing teacher involves the third and forth class. During this two classes, the student need to complete a working draft for their book. And the writing instructor will review them before they start to work on their book dummy
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Book dummy: student work on a book draft to decide the main format, composition, character interaction and material and the art instructor will review the draft and give feedbacks to improve their drawing to get prepared for their final book
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Book cover: students will look into book cover examples and design their cover with images and suitable fonts
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Final book：Students will make the drawing based on the revised book dummy draft
Process
I developed and refined a book-making process tailored to children’s learning.
Before the class, we send student a questionnaire to fill out that includes questions:
-
The class starts brainstorming the character/protagonist, the instructor asks questions to inspire the students. For example: what is your favorite animal? what is its occupation? what is its hobby?
-
Find reference: we bring books and examples to the class to have the students to find out their favorite book and character and discussion why they like it
-
Text draft writing: The writing teacher involves the third and forth class. During this two classes, the student need to complete a working draft for their book. And the writing instructor will review them before they start to work on their book dummy
-
Book dummy: student work on a book draft to decide the main format, composition, character interaction and material and the art instructor will review the draft and give feedbacks to improve their drawing to get prepared for their final book
-
Book cover: students will look into book cover examples and design their cover with images and suitable fonts
-
Final book：Students will make the drawing based on the revised book dummy draft
Result
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45 books will be made by the end of July—ranging from poetic picture books to dynamic comics.
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Common themes include magical animals, interstellar travel, food adventures, friendship, and climate change.
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Students experienced the full publishing pipeline, from ideation to finished product.
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Each book becomes part of an imaginative “seed bank,” preserving the originality of young voices in both physical and digital archives.
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Many younger students began with brilliant fragments—compelling characters, worlds, or moments—but lacked cohesive narrative structure. Teachers had to guide them individually to stitch these pieces into full arcs.
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Can AI play a supportive role in brainstorming, character design, or even structuring stories from scattered elements—freeing human teachers to focus on emotional resonance and personal growth?
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This project reaffirmed that giving children full authorship over their stories builds not just aesthetic skills, but creative agency and long-term confidence.
Reflection
