The characters in this new children's book jump off the page - literally.

A Melbourne father has come up with a book that “comes to life” by incorporating augmented reality.

Mike Wilson, founder of Tinyme, has created a personalised custom-printed book – The Amazing Alphabet – that can be read with a free app.

“By hovering over the book, the characters jump out of the page in 3D with music and sound effects and get up to all sorts of fun stuff,” says Wilson.

Is this the next generation of pop up books? Image supplied.

"The app can read the story to the child and allow them to engage with the printed page in a truly amazing way."

The father of six, who has been making products for kids for over a decade, has spent hours reading to his own children.

"I’ve always encouraged them to have a deep love for reading. I’ve also spent quite a bit of time playing around with a bunch of pretty cool kid's apps," he says.

The final product was "very complex and time consuming to build". Image supplied. 

The 41-year-old believes he has created a world first - by combining personalised illustration and text with augmented reality.

"Developing the augmented reality app was something we’d talked about for a few years, knowing that it would add a fantastic new dimension to the reading experience'" he said.

"The combination of personalised text, personalised images and the added dimension of augmented animation and sound make the book really unique."

Listen: These are the books every child should own and never toss away. (Post continues after audio.)

After a lot of experimentation and hard work, Wilson has developed a story where children can explore scene from "all angles".

"We’ve always had a great response from kids - seeing their name throughout a story - but this takes the wow factor to another level," he says.

The book is recommended for kids aged up to eight and the app is available for iPhone or Android phones.

For more information see: Tinyme (Australia), US or UK.