Pinyin above a child's photo-book text must follow the approved Chinese wording and the intended pronunciation. Correct letters in the wrong position are still a reading error. Work in an editor with editable text and appropriate ruby controls; Adobe describes such controls in InCopy's CJK formatting documentation. This is an external typesetting workflow, not a claim that an image generator understands every pronunciation.
Approve words before placement
Keep a plain-text copy of the sentence. Ask a competent Chinese reader to check contextual readings, personal names and tone marks. A character with multiple readings cannot be verified in isolation. Mark unresolved readings and keep them out of the final print file until someone responsible for the text confirms them.
Choose whether a ruby group represents a single character or a complete word. Mixing the two carelessly can make a long syllable appear to belong to its neighbor. Keep the grouped Chinese and its pronunciation together in the editor. Do not add a row of individually spaced Latin text and rely on visual alignment alone: later line wrapping can separate the rows.
Make a deliberately difficult proof
Copy the approved sentence into a narrow test frame before filling the book. Check what happens when a word falls at the end of a line. Increase space above the Chinese if tone marks collide with the previous line. Adjust ruby size and alignment so each syllable remains readable without overwhelming the main sentence.
For a hypothetical page about a child visiting a park, the family might use the phrase “快乐的一天”. Compare the approved pinyin against that complete phrase, then inspect whether each annotation points to the correct character or word. The example illustrates proofreading; it does not establish a pronunciation policy for the whole book.
Repeat the check after adding photographs. A smaller text box can change the wrap and expose an alignment error that was absent in the text-only proof. Keep the Chinese sentence unchanged while diagnosing layout.
Approve the printed reading task
Export one representative page and view it at the intended print size. Have an adult read it aloud while pointing to the annotated words. Check tone marks, line boundaries and similar-looking letters. If children are the intended readers, also test whether the annotations are large enough for that use.
Save the editable text and the pronunciation decisions alongside the print export. A pass means accurate words, approved contextual readings and clear association between annotation and text. Imagild skills can help prepare page imagery; exact Chinese and pinyin should be finished and checked as editable typography.