Pets and companions

What it is

A companion is anyone you keep beside your children in the app: a dog, a cat, a grandparent, a teacher, a best friend, or something invented that you give a name of your own. Each one is saved once, with a relationship, a few traits and a photo if you have one, and can then be cast in any book.

What it is for

A pet is not scenery to a child. It is the one who follows them to the dark end of the garden. What you save is what we are handed: the relationship, the traits you tapped, and anything you wrote in your own words. So the dog in the story behaves like your dog, and a companion you cast has a part in the book rather than a mention.

How to use it

1. Tap New Adventure, go to Cast, and tap Add someone under Companions.
2. Choose what they are in the Relationship list. Pet is one of the choices, and Other lets you type a label of your own.
3. Type their name, then tap the traits under Personality that fit them.
4. Add a photo if you have one. For an animal, one showing them head to tail works best, because we keep the whole animal rather than a face.
5. Tap Add Companion. They join this book straight away in a supporting part, and the star on their card makes them a hero instead.

What we suggest

Save the pet first. A child asks for the dog by name before anyone else, and an animal is the simplest companion to add: no age is asked for, and one photo of the whole animal is enough. Keep what you write short. A line about what they actually do is worth more to us than a paragraph about how they look.