Printakid Personalized Books for Children - Encore! Encore!

Thanks to a successful campaign that included over 25 parent bloggers, Printakid offered to send additional books to some of the newer parent bloggers who were interested in checking them out. Not surprisingly, the reviewers who took part in the campaign extension were just as thrilled with the books as those who participated in the original campaign.

We’re all a little bit narcissistic, but kids have cornered the market where it comes to the joy of seeing one’s name and likeness in print. One blogger described that joy quite well - “You know that thrill you had as a kid when you saw your name on a souvenir license plate? Or when you heard it in the words of a song? Or when you discovered a character in a movie or book with your same moniker?” - and another reminisced fondly about a personalized book she had as a child - “I think I kept that book until it was so ragged I finally had to get rid of it but it is still to this day one of my favorite gifts ever.” It’s no wonder that several of the bloggers admitted, “I jumped at the chance to get a personalized book for [my child].”

As before, the bloggers commented on the unexpected ease of the Printakid ordering process. As one blogger noted: “I was expecting a much more labor intensive process, but it was really very easy and painless.” Another added, “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.”

Even in the holiday crush, the books were delivered in record time, which impressed the bloggers:

What did the kids think of the books? They loved them!

“When [my son] first saw the book he wasn’t too impressed and probably just thought, Great, Mom’s got another book, but once I read the dedication page his interest was piqued. He sat on my lap and as I turned to the first page he saw the picture of the blond hair blue-eyed boy that looked like him…That is when his face lit up! He loved having a book about him and every time it mentioned his brother, sister, or snuggle buddy he would giggle so adorably.”

Even the older siblings who played supporting roles were intrigued:

“Once my older two kids heard their names mentioned they couldn’t help but listen as well and smile. It was a lot of fun to have all three kids sitting there listening to this little story waiting to hear their own names in it.”

Other bloggers agreed that it was great to have the whole family involved: “Every character had an important heroic role to play in the story - not just the main character…” even if “having a story that is clearly about you and your family means that your parents can’t read anything else at bedtime for weeks.” The final word from the kids? “[My son] loved this book and his opinion is the most important one for this review.”

The parents were impressed with the books too:

“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…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 book were personalized. Effort was put into the storyline to make these books truly customized, with a plot that flowed nicely into the story.”

The illustrations were definitely a hit - “The little boy in the book really does look like a cartoon version of [my son]…” - and the sturdiness was welcomed too - “…the binding is substantial enough to tolerate [my daughter] dragging the book around.”

A few bloggers found the storylines to be far-fetched, perhaps even bizarre. One commented: “Reading the book, I immediately thought of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. (I just hope the printakid authors haven’t been out licking mushrooms.)” and another agreed: “To be completely honest, the story is quite strange.” But both of these bloggers concluded that the important part was that their kids enjoyed the books, because “…I’m all about anything that holds a child’s attention and makes them want to read. And this product does that.”

Finally, the most impressive feature of the books was the depth of the personalization, and not just in terms of illustrations. One mother noted: “What I loved about Printakid’s books is that the child gets to be an actual character in the book. It’s not just a story written with their name in it like when I was little.” Another was thrilled by the dialogue: “What was particularly endearing is that the lines given to my children actually fit their personalities!” She added, “Some kids are lucky enough to have entire series of books with main characters who share their name, while other kids look in vain for characters that share their name. The Print-a-Kid books even the playing field and make all the kids feel special.”

No matter how old we get, it’s always nice to feel special to someone. Hopefully these kids, and all of those who receive Printakid books, will look back at their personalized books and remember how special they are.

While the holidays may be over, it’s clear that these books make perfect gifts all year long. Check out the Printakid website to find the titles that are best suited to your special little ones!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 5:00 am and is filed under Books, Elementary School, Kids, Pre-school. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Printakid Personalized Books for Children - Encore! Encore!

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