Wanna know a secret?… We didn’t come up with the idea of putting your child’s name into their own customized children’s book. In fact, when I was six (about twenty years ago), my mother bought a novelty gift that was made by an incredibly modern device (something called a “com-pu-ter”). It inserted my name, age, and city of residence into a story about Santa.
You see, when little Jeff (me) asked Santa to give all the grownups the unselfish give of Time, he rewarded him (me) with a ride on his sleigh delivering presents (and time, I guess). The only problem (besides the lame moral) was that I was a precocious child who thought, “That didn’t happen! I asked for a truck, not Time!” I suspected that some trick was being played on me and read it exactly once (sorry Mom).
The story’s failed use of the past tense (indicating a false history that even a child can see through) inspired our use of the future and present tenses. Our custom kids books say things like, “If she were big, she’d…” or “When Olivia goes to the park, she…”
Also, absent from a book about me… pictures of Me!!! No wait, there I am! Look how handsome!
Here, they got me from my good side!
This book’s lessons were very useful during the development of our own customizable books. Now, your precocious children are guaranteed to cry out, “That’s me!” instead of, ”No way!”
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