I’ve always loved the idea of personalised storybooks, and even toyed with the idea of writing one for N myself, but never got round to doing it, so when Clara of The Story Tailors approached me, I quickly went to their website, The Magic of my Name, to check it out. I generated a preview of the book before agreeing to do this review, as I wanted to be sure that we would like it.
Who are the Story Tailors?
Courtesy of The Story Tailors
What is “The Magic of my Name” about?
Courtesy of The Story Tailors
What the book looks like
Courtesy of The Story Tailors
I liked that I could write my personal dedication to N, and could customise the colour of the protagonist’s skin and hair, so that he would look more like N. As N’s full name has three Ns in it, I was curious to see if the adjectives used for the letter N would be the same. I was pleased to see that there was no repetition, although I did feel that the last adjective, “Natural”, was a bit of a stretch.
I actually spent quite a bit of time playing with the preview, and used Didi’s and Meimei’s names too, to see if the story generated would be the same for all three kids. I found that the various scenes that the protagonist comes across are the same, although they aren’t used in the exact same sequence. Also, if my memory doesn’t fail me, the same scene sometimes has different adjectives, which explains why I personally felt that some of the adjectives didn’t quite explain the scene properly. That’s my personal opinion, of course, so do try it out with your child’s name to see it for yourself. After all, the previews generated are free, and you’ll be able to read the entire story to see if you like it, before placing your order.
N for Noble
N for Nice
I did feel that many of the adjectives were apt, such as “Harmony” for H (though I would have preferred it if it were “harmonious” instead). The illustrations were simply gorgeous, and I particularly liked the one of the baby of Fire and Water, shown in the third picture below.
H for Harmony
Placing my order was very straightforward, and after testing out a few variations of N’s name in the preview, I decided to use his full name (because I’m a typical Singaporean, and wanted the story to be as long as possible). I got the book shipped to my parents’ place, and even though it arrived rather quickly, we only got to read it recently when we returned to Singapore. N’s eyes lit up when he saw his name printed in the book, and couldn’t wait to read the story with me once he realised that the book was about him and his name.
N with his special book
N thoroughly enjoyed reading his special name book, and I thought it was a good way for him to learn how to spell his full name, as he kept telling me, “But I don’t have that letter in my name!” when we got to the letters for his Chinese name. I did sort of regret being kiasu and putting his full name, because the story was really long, and I was getting tired of reading to him, but it’s a temporary problem, because he can read the book on his own when he becomes more proficient in reading.
The book is printed on good quality paper, and is sturdy enough to withstand slightly rough handling. As I mentioned earlier, we both really love the illustrations, and N spent some time examining each page, before I read him the entire story. This personalised book makes a really good gift, and since The Story Tailors have kindly agreed to give our readers a special discount, you can order some as birthday presents too. I’m sure parents and children alike will appreciate a personalised and unique book as a gift.
Happy reading and shopping!
Buy the Book Create your own personalised book at The Magic of my Name Use the special discount code “TANS” to get SGD8 off your order. This discount code is only valid from today, 5th May 2017 to 19th May 2017, so place your orders quickly!
*Disclaimer: We received a personalised copy of “The Magic of my Name” for the purpose of this review. All photos and opinions are, as always, our own, unless otherwise stated.
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GIVEAWAY TIME
We have a personalised copy of ‘The Magic of my Name‘ to be given to two readers of Growing with the Tans! To participate, please complete the Rafflecopter widget below. Terms and conditions apply.
Terms and Conditions: This giveaway will end on Friday, 12th May 2017, at 2359h, and is open to Singapore residents only. Winners will be contacted via the particulars provided when entering this giveaway, and will have 24 hours to respond, failing which a new winner will be selected. All incomplete entries will be disqualified, and all entries will be verified before the winner is announced. To be fair to our sponsor, please note that all fake Facebook accounts (accounts set up purely to take part in contests, with no or very few real friends), will be disqualified. This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
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