As a certifiable word nerd, I’m not a fan of children’s books that seem to be written by marketers and not authors. While I like a good gimmick as much as the next parent, I also want a book that’s worth reading once you get beyond the “look what a cool idea!” stage.
This is why I’m loving The First Adventures of Incredible You. While personalized books are always a hit for kids, this isn’t like one of those lame stories that drops a kid’s name into a couple sentences and calls it a day. First Adventures is a thoughtful, sweet rhyming story from authors Sarah Riley Hendrick and Sarah Foreman Rivera about your child and it really does feel like it was written just for him.
Basically you answer about 14 questions like the name of someone who might take a bubble bath with your child, or the name of the street where she’ll learn to ride a bike. The info then comes back in really seamless ways – my daughter loved hearing about enjoying her great-grandmother’s famous blackbottom cupcakes, or that she’d attend her first Yankee game with Grammy and Grandpa. (This is especially cool, since grandparent names are so personal; those generic books about “hanging out with grandma and grandpa” don’t work too when when “grandma and grandpa” have been divorced for 30 years.)
The colorful, artful illustrations aren’t an afterthought either making this book a total home run in the world of personalized books as far as I’m concerned.
Now will I sound like a totally dork if I tell you that I got teary reading it? Fine, I am. And I highly recommend the emotion. –Liz
Congrats to winner Laura D
Say My Name, Say My Name
