susiej/reviews

I ordered the personalized books from Print-A-Kid with a bit of trepidation. I remember when my nephews opened books and found their names and pictures in them, they screamed in fear. “I’ve never been there!” “What happened to me?” And the stories were so awkward to read; the pronouns didn’t match, and the sentences were so obviously contrived to make room for the name.

I ordered directly from the Print-A-Kid website, and the on-line question process was very easy, despite the many areas of personalization the book covers. In addition to his name, they also wanted to know whether his eyes were almond or circle shaped, eye color, hair color (curly, wavy or straight), and the names of three friends. (I chose the names of his three brothers). You also order from six different stories, further customized by reader level.

The Kingdom of Nevernight seemed appropriate, as my little boy has been having nightmares lately. This might help, I thought. The book arrived in less than ten days, and it was a nice surprise. The hardback cover is heavy and sturdy, and nice and glossy – a feature my kids always love in a book. The book was larger than I expected, a full 9 x 11 inches. I opened the pages, and was also surprised to see a little boy who did look very similar to my own child. This little guy wasn’t scary at all. He was cute.

But still, I wanted to read the book myself before I shared it with my son. The story was a fun adventure that involved three magical stones, a knight, and mummy and an Eskimo—and a journey through the colors of a rainbow. The pronouns were in the right places, and his name didn’t show up in awkward sentences, obviously contrived to make it personalized. The story was engaging, and even I showed up in the book — Mom and Dad both. Twenty one out of the 24 pages in the books were personalized. Effort was put into the storyline to make these books truly customized, with a plot that flowed nicely into the story.

This book passed the test, so I shared it with my sons. At that point, I lost track of the book, because all of the boys were so enchanted by seeing their own name in the book, no one wanted to give it up. Every character had an important heroic role to play in the story – not just the main character – so everyone felt like they had a valiant role in the story. The fact that his brothers were dressed in costume (their hair color, eyes, etc. were not matched) made the book even more endearing. My boys are always dressed in costume; so this just added one more element of personalization to this now “family heirloom” of a book.

I highly recommend these books from Print-A-Kid. The plots are fun, creative and engaging, the illustrations please the kids, and the books are well made. The ordering process is stress-free and easy. This is a great present to help build your child’s self-esteem. And the nightmares? They’re still a part of our life for now.

See more reviews for Print-A-Kid Books at the Parent Bloggers Network.

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