Trace Press
A free KDP handwriting workbook generator: makes a print-ready letter tracing
book for Amazon KDP (interior PDF and full-wrap cover) in the browser. Nothing
is uploaded.
Live: https://tracepress.bananafest-destiny.com/
One page for each letter, A to Z, capital and lowercase (or one case alone). Each page has a model
letter with numbered start dots and arrows showing stroke order, rows of dotted
letters to trace, and rows for writing the letter alone. Then, if you want them:
- A picture on each letter page, "A is for apple": an outline of a word
that starts with the letter (apple, ball, cat…), the word under it, to colour.
Print letters; Q is a patchwork quilt drawn for Trace Press. With numbers
on, pages 1–9 get that many stars to count, the number word under them.
The cover then shows the apple beside its "A a".
- A "This book belongs to" page first, with a big writing line for the child's name.
- A "Well done!" page last, with the same name line and "finished this book." under it.
- Page numbers at the bottom outside corner, counting every page as KDP does; the title, copyright
and name pages go unnumbered.
- A title page first: the cover's title, subtitle and author, with the copyright page on its back.
- A copyright page after the name page: "Copyright ©", the year and the cover's author, then
"All rights reserved.", small and low on the page.
- Print or cursive. Cursive letters are joined the way the font
(Playwrite US Trad, OFL)
joins them and drawn as outlines, so the preview is what prints; a cursive
book gets a cursive cover.
- Pre-writing lines, four pages before A: lines, slants, zigzags, waves, circles and crosses.
- Shapes, six pages before A and after the lines: square, triangle,
rectangle, diamond, star and heart, each with a start dot and arrows.
- Numbers 0–9, a page each after Z, with start dots and arrows like the letters.
- Your own practice words (sight words, names, a theme), a page each after
that, up to 52 words. The other extra pages count against the 52: numbers
take 10, lines 4, shapes 6, and the title, copyright, name and well-done pages 1 each.
A word Trace Press has a picture for (163 everyday words, such as dog, train
and umbrella) gets an outline of it to colour, beside the word or, for a
long word, above it. The outlines are Tabler Icons
(MIT,
public/licenses/tabler-icons.txt), plus some animals and foods from
Lucide (ISC, public/licenses/lucide.txt), mapped in
scripts/pictures.mjs.
A listing description sits under the cover: what's in the book you just made (page count, trim,
line size, each part in order, the words), in plain text for KDP's Description box, with a copy button. Under it, seven
keyword phrases for KDP's seven keyword boxes, from what's in the book, leaving
out any already in the title (KDP asks for that), each with its own copy button.
Six KDP trim sizes (5×8, 5.5×8.5, 6×9, 7×10, 8×10, 8.5×11), with or without
bleed, and four line sizes, from 1" lines for ages 4–5 down to 0.45" for older
children. The cover is one full-wrap PDF with the spine sized from the page
count of the book you just made and the paper you pick (white, cream,
groundwood or colour). It's drawn on the page as you type, and takes optional
back-cover text, centred on the back and kept above the barcode area.
Free to use, and it makes the entire book. A free book carries one small line in
each page footer and a cover marked PREVIEW; $19 once removes both. No
account, no subscription.
See it without running anything
Made by this code with the free version, footer line and PREVIEW mark included:
Free pages
- Letter tracing worksheets, A to Z
- Alphabet tracing worksheets with pictures: A is for apple to Z is for zeppelin
- Uppercase letter tracing worksheets
- Lowercase letter tracing worksheets
- Number tracing worksheets, 0 to 9
- Number tracing worksheets with pictures: 0 to 9, with stars to count
- Tracing lines worksheets: lines, slants, zigzags, waves, circles, crosses
- Shape tracing worksheets: square, triangle, rectangle, diamond, star, heart
- Preschool tracing worksheets: lines, shapes, A–Z capitals and 0–9 in one pack
- Word tracing worksheets with pictures: 20 first words, cat to apple
- Transportation tracing worksheets: 20 vehicle words, car to helicopter, each with a picture
- Animal tracing worksheets: 20 animal words, cat to butterfly, each with a picture
- Food tracing worksheets: 20 food words, egg to broccoli, each with a picture
KDP's rules, and where the code keeps them
- Margins by page count, inside and outside, from KDP's paperback
guidelines:
src/pdf/kdp.js. Every mark is laid out as numbers first and
checked against them in test/layout.test.js; test/inkcheck.mjs renders
the pages and checks the pixels.
- Print floors: lines at least 0.75pt, type at least 7pt (
src/pdf/page.js).
- Spine width from the page count and paper:
src/pdf/cover-geometry.js.
- Stroke order: the letters are vertical print, drawn in the stroke order
and direction of a published school handwriting model (
src/glyphs/print.js).
Run it
npm install
npm test # unit tests
npm run build # bundles src/ui into public/js
npx wrangler dev # the site and its Worker, locally
npm run sample # regenerates public/samples/
node scripts/previews.mjs # then the worksheet pictures in public/img/
node scripts/social-card.mjs # then the share cards (needs the pictures)
The PDFs are made with pdf-lib in the browser. The
Worker (src/worker.js) serves the pages and checks a Stripe payment when
someone unlocks.
A Bananafest Destiny app, from the maker of
Puzzle Press, which makes KDP
puzzle books the same way. Not affiliated with Amazon. KDP is a trademark of
Amazon.com, Inc.
