If someone asked me to write a list of my favourite things, up near the top, after the obvious friends and family, would be photographs and books. I am a stickler for both. Despite my daughter being too young to read on her own, I have read a book to her pretty much every day of her life so far! Now she is nearly 3, her imagination is really coming to life, and she enjoys sitting on her chair in her room and “reading” to me, making up her own stories as she turns the pages. It is a lovely sight to see. She is also starting to recognise letters and their shapes, and therefore is showing signs of understanding how different words are formed.
Erin also loves looking at photos of herself and her family. If she walks into a room where there is a framed picture of herself or one of her parents / grandparents, she will suddenly spot it, smile and say who it is – she recognises most of our wider family, and remembers the situation shown in the photographs. If ever she is grumpy and needs cheering up, I simply show her a picture of either a) Daddy or b) herself, and her signature grin is soon plastered back on her little face.
When given the opportunity to review the Love2Read personalised photo books, these seemed just perfect to combine my love of both books and photographs, and I couldn’t wait to design my book.
The Product
Love2Read was created by Caroline, who had the idea to use photos to create personalised reading books in order to help her middle child, who has special needs, learn to read. She made a book using photos of her family and it was a real hit, so she made some more using different words. She then noticed that her youngest child, who was only two at the time, was always picking up the homemade books and was reading them to anyone who would listen. Friends starting asking her to make books for their children and so Love2Read was born.
To create your book, you simply select from a range of template designs including My Daddy, My Mummy, I love… and My Special Day. With over 80 templates to the Love to Read site, there are plenty of options to choose from.
Once selected, you simply upload 10 photographs that you wish to be the imagery for your book using the webpage software provided. As you add your images you can see how they will appear on the page. The first four images used in the book automatically become the front cover of the design.
Underneath the images you can then add the narrative of your choice, as well as personalising the inside cover with a This book belongs to… and any message you wish to document.
The books cost £14.99 or reduce in price per unit when more than 2 books are purchased.
Gift vouchers are also available should you wish to purchase for someone else – but allow them to create the books themselves.
Our Experience
We decided to create a My Daddy book as a Father’s Day gift from my daughter to her Daddy. Although she is not of reading age, she is a big fan of a bedtime story, and loves it when Daddy and her have pre bedtime stories and cuddles. Having photographs of her favourite person inside was bound to make it a real hit, and I knew Mike would enjoy the experience.
Using the Love2Read website, we selected, after some long consideration, the 10 images we wished to use and uploaded them to the webpage, carefully selecting which four images we wanted to be on the front cover, and as such, in the first four pages of the template. You can rotate the images you want to use so they can be either portrait or landscape – this was handy as for some reason most of mine are portrait (probably as a lot were taken on my phone).
We made the story to be about Daddy and Erin’s adventures, and used semi rhyming narrative to describe the images (I’m no poet but this bit was fun!). I would’ve liked a couple of extra pages at the end as I wrote the poem in rhyming couplets, but that wasn’t a major issue! 🙂
Uploading photographs was really easy, even for those who are not particularly confident on the computer, and once we had finished our design, it was great to be able to virtually flick through the book and get a real feel for what the finished product would look like.
The book arrived around 2 working days after my order – I believe they offer two print runs a week, but either way, the turnaround time was very quick. As the book is paperback and not particularly thick, it was able to be delivered by royal mail straight into my letterbox which would’ve been perfect had I not been at home.
Once I tore open the envelope, I was really pleased with the My Daddy book inside. With a gloss front cover, and high quality print, and some of my favourite photographs printed inside, I couldn’t wait to show it to my daughter and see her response. It was exactly how I anticipated. As soon as she saw her Daddy on the inside of the pages, her face lit up, beaming from ear to ear and chuckling contently as I read her the words on the page. She also talked around the situations pictures, and what she could see, and after a few times of reading it, she would then talk me through it herself! 🙂 She particularly liked the photo of when Daddy saved her from the muddy puddle!
Overall we are really pleased with our Love2Read book, and think it is a perfect gift for anyone who wants a bedtime story to treasure for many years to come. The template nature of the design, means the books are perfect gifts for a variety of special occasions such as Valentines Day, Mothers/Fathers Day, Child’s Birthday or a year in review. We look forward to Erin giving her book to Daddy on Father’s Day! 🙂
Pros:
Very simple to create, using the website template provided.
A wide range of templates to choose from, meaning something to match every occasion.
Narrative is bespoke, meaning you can write very personal and unique content based on your own experiences.
High quality printing – the colour and sharpness of the photographs is very good.
Reasonable value for money, particularly if you buy more than one at a time.
Can be delivered through standard letter box – no need to wait in for delivery.
Quick turnaround time.
A perfect gift for special occasions or for anyone responsible for a bedtime story!
Not limited to one age group, as the content and difficulty of words within and up to the discretion of the author!
Great for children who may be struggling with separation anxiety, as a childminder or nursery practitioner could read it to them for reassurance.
Cons:
As a soft back book, if your child is very young like mine, the book could become a little dog eared and well loved relatively quickly. It would be great to see a hard back or board book version of the same design.
The book is bound using staples in the central fold of the pages. I would prefer it if the book was glue sealed as there is a small risk a younger child could reach out and touch the pages. However, a younger child is unlikely to be left alone reading it.
Penwizard is a personalised children’s book company formed in 2004, developing innovative personalised products using ‘web to print’ technology, linking customers’ personal data to a digital printing press. Unlike some other personalised books, Penwizard is unique in that customers can personalise the illustrations as well as the words, making the characters in the book represent people they know and love! Penwizard digitally print all of their products in the UK to the highest specifications using technology jointly developed with Hewlett Packard.
Parents will love making their child the star of their very own personalised book, including the child’s name and illustrations.
Penwizard produce a range of personalised children’s books including Adventure Books, Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, In the Night Garden and The Snowman and he Snowdog. They also produce range of photo based calendars and diaries.
About the Book
We all know potty training can be tough – that’s why Penwizard’s new personalised potty training book guides children step-by-step through the process to help them understand what’s involved.
Follow your little Princess on her potty training adventure. Your child will see herself in the illustrations and her name printed throughout her own Potty training book. This personalised children’s book is clear, informative and includes fun pictures of your child learning all about potty training. Not only does this unique potty training book motivate your child to using the potty, but aims to tackle common anxieties toddlers may have about using their potty, as they ‘see’ themselves in the pictures of their own personalised book.
The book guides your child step-by-steps to encourage your little one to get the idea of moving on from nappies to the potty and help her understand what’s involved. This book is perfect for helping girls feel confident and motivated about using the potty.
This is the same story as Potty Pirate and Potty Prince in the same range, and the books are suitable for boys (princes) and girls (princesses) aged 18 months plus.
The book retails at £14.99 with £2.50 UK postage (multiple purchase discounts available)
Our Experience
Erin has just turned two, and has only recently started the potty journey. So far, whilst we have a potty and she understands the concept (saying “wee wee” and quite happily sitting on it), we are yet to have a successful potty visit!
Erin loves to be read to, and loves flicking through the pages of the book as I read out the text, and so a book about potty training felt like the perfect way to reinforce the process.
The process of personalising your book on the Penwizard website is really straight forward. There are 3 different designs of Potty book – Prince, Princess and Pirate, and you can choose which ever you feel is best suited to your child.
Using the online forms, you then simply add in the relevant details, including gender, first name, surname and add a personal message if you wish. We decided to pen a message to Erin saying how proud we were of her for being a big girl, but you can write whatever you like, or if you prefer leave this section blank.
A preview of the character appears on the screen in front of you, and edits you then make to the child’s characteristics are reflected on screen to show how the finished illustration will look. For the girl, we were able to choose from 9 different hairstyles – some long, some short, and some curly, with some tied back and some loose. One of the styles matched Erin’s short kick wave hair perfectly, so this was a bit of a no brainer! The hair colours available are Black, Dark Brown, Light Brown, Ginger and Blonde. I know some of my redhead friends will be really pleased with this, as quite often they can be overlooked!
The child has a choice of 4 different shades for skin tone, and can even have glasses added (in two different styles) if required.
The book then asks you to specify the name of a responsible adult who will be helping the child with their potty training e.g. mummy, daddy. There is only the option for one here, so we chose to put Mummy, as I tend to be at home more in the day than Mike.
Once we had entered all the details, you simply press PREVIEW, which shows an example of the cover page of the book – in our case – Princess Erin’s Potty. The cover looks great, and I knew that Erin would be chuffed to bits when she saw the little girl that looked so much like her!
The book arrived very quickly, just a few days after we had created it online and was well packaged
Reading with Erin
The book was smaller than I expected, but actually I think this is a good thing. The book is the perfect size for its target age group, in that it is small enough and light enough for her to hold herself despite being a hard back cover. It is also sturdy enough for her to turn the pages herself without wripping it to shreads!
We have been working to teach Erin slowly (with no pressure!) about what a potty is and what it is used for, so were using the book to try and reiterate what we have already verbally told her.
Erin enjoyed the pictures and interactive nature of the book, particularly the pages that asked her to choose her own potty, and pick a pair of pants from those pictured. When we pointed at the girl in the book and said Erin she smiled as if she recognised that it was supposed to be her.
Erin will quite often pick this book up and start flicking through the pages on her own.
As a parent who is starting the potty training journey, I think this is a great way of reinforcing a message about the potty and what happens next after nappies! It helps reassure children that having the odd accident whilst they are learning is ok, and that Mummy will still be proud of her no matter what. This is something that I think is particularly important for Erin, as she does tend to get quite embarrassed if ever she wees without a nappy – hence why we had such difficulty getting a sample from her at a recent visit to the hospital!
Overall, this is a fun and engaging way to reinforce the message of potty training to toddlers in a way that doesn’t feel pressured or over powering. The personalised element adds that real special factor to help the child feel that they really are becoming a big girl / big boy!
Pros:
Uses your child’s full name, and first name throughout.
Attractive character and illustrations throughout.
Interactive book, encouraging child to “pick their favourite” from a choice of potty’s and pants!
On ordering, can customise the look of the character including skin tone, hair style and hair colour, to most accurately represent your child. The one we have chosen is uncanny for Erin!!
Small enough for the child to hold and flick through themselves.
Sturdy hard back cover.
Fast Delivery and good communication
Cons:
The story itself isn’t the most entertaining on its own as it serves quite a practical purpose, about a child getting out of nappies, into pants and learning to wee and poo in a toilet. That said, it covers everything I would expect for a child learning the process from scratch, and is engaging and interactive for them as they read.
At £14.99 RRP, there are cheaper potty training books on the market, however, we really love the personalised element of this book which makes it just that little bit special!
*This post was originally published in June 2015. See Penwizard website for current range.
As our regular readers will know, here at RMR we are BIG book lovers, and in our opinion there is nothing better than a personalised book – one that a child can grow up with, recognising names, places or photographs as they turn every page.
When I was a girl, I had a personalised book and I felt so special to have my own name feature in the text – it was like the whole story had been written especially for me!! I have fond memories of sitting with my Nan and being read my very own story, and I was keen for my daughter to have the same experience.
With her 1st birthday just a few months away *sob* I decided it would be lovely to create a special book as a birthday present from Mummy and Daddy.
The Product
Penwizard offer a wide range of personalised books staring your child, with prices starting at just £14.99 (for a soft back A4 book).
The range includes personalised birthday books (which can be personalised with your child’s name and age) as well as Peppa Pig and other character books for both boys and girls.
To order your book, you simply enter the personalised details on line via their website. Details required vary by book selected but include details such as full name, age, as well as hairstyle, skin tone and eye colour for the illustrations.
An optional personalised message can be added to mark the gift and capture those special memories.
Penwizard offer fast turnaround times, and books are dispatched within three days.
Our Experience
We decided to order a personalised “Peppa goes to Erin’s Birthday Party” book ready for Erin’s first birthday. In this story, Erin would help Mr Zebra deliver all the invitations to her birthday party and then celebrate with Peppa and her friends. The front cover of the book even includes her age on her very own party balloon!
Although still small, Erin appears to already be a big fan of Peppa and her family, so I was confident that she would love seeing these characters on the pages in a few months time.
The process for ordering our book was really simple.
We simply had to type in our daughters full name, the birthday she would be celebrating (e.g. 1, 2, 3 etc), and then choose the hairstyle and colour, skin tone and eye colour so that the pictures of “Erin” would be personalised throughout the book. Picking what our 1 year old daughters hair might look like was tricky lol, so we went for a girly ponytail, although in reality we will be lucky if she has that much hair!!
We then added a personalised message in the front of the book from Mummy and Daddy, as we thought this would be a nice touch when she looks back at it when she is old enough to read the words for herself.
The book arrived just 2 days later, which was a super fast delivery time, and it looked lovely and of a very high quality.
A4 in size, and with a gloss front cover, the book features 24 pages, making it just the right length for a bedtime story.
Erin’s name features on almost every page, and the story is a pleasant and enchanting tale that children will love.
Overall we loved the book and felt it would be a perfect keepsake for our daughter as she grows up!
Pros:
Characters your children will love, and recognise from childrens TV programmes.
High quality print and well bound pages.
Large size perfect for children of all ages.
Ability to personalise the illustrations as well as the words, meaning you can make the child look as much like your own son / daughter as possible.
Suitable for both boys and girls, as colours and images can be chosen accordingly.
Ability to add a personalised message for recipient.
Good value for money at £14.99 RRP.
Ultra fast delivery and turnaround times.
Cons:
Would have been nice to have had a few other personalised features such as pets name, address, siblings names etc to make the story even more bespoke to your child.
It would be great if Penwizard offered discounts when purchasing more than one book at a time, as if you were creating books for all your children, it could prove to be quite expensive.
Hi, I’m Lucy, a thirty something mum of two from Birmingham. A memory maker, tradition keeper, stationery addict and Mr Men fanatic. HR Advisor by day and sleep deprived Mama by night!
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Underneath the images you can then add the narrative of your choice, as well as personalising the inside cover with a This book belongs to… and any message you wish to document.
