A personalised gift is something to be treasured forever, and something all of their own. Personalised books have been around for a long time, I remember having at least one growing up and there’s one with hubby’s name in it on our bookshelf still. Many of the books I have seen over the years placed the child in a popular current story with some of their personal details.
The name game is changing and many parents are choosing names that are a little different, or just changed the spelling of a traditional name, and that makes picking up personalised items difficult. These children won’t get door signs, pens, stickers, lunch boxes, keyrings or any of the stuff you can pick up off the shelf but now with Lost My Name they don’t have to miss out. They too can have a book that features their name, and shows that they aren’t the only one.
The Little Boy Who Lost His Name (and The Little Girl Who Lost Her Name) is a personalised story with a difference. In this book the main character is an adventurous child who has most unfortunately woken up to discover an empty space in place of a name. Not one to shrink from danger the child sets off, determined to find the missing name. Along the journey they will come across many wonderful characters and each will give them a letter until the end of the story when all of the letters come together to make up the name of the child.
Each page is beautifully drawn and the child is pictured on every one so you can plainly see that this child is not the child reading the book, and it’s not supposed to be. The story takes young readers on an exciting adventure alongside a brave child determined to discover their name and it’s only at the very end that they discover this courageous child shares their name, a wonderful twist to top off the adventure.
The story differs for every child, just as every child’s journey through life differs. Each of us face different challenges, hurdles and achievements and that makes every life unique and special; which is reflected in the story. There are thousands of different names in use, 14,000 in the 2011 UK census, so it’s quite a task to cater to each of them individually. The children bearing each of those names is different and all have very different attributes so the child in these books is very neutral and easy to identify with for every child I think.
The books are gender specific but only in the most general sense. You choose a name and gender but only so the main character has a gender. The quirky characters along the journey are far from gender specific with dragons, robots and lions gracing the pages of the girls book and unicorns, princesses and mermaids in the boy books.
Lost My Name is written for children between 2 and 6 years old which I think is pretty spot on. I’m sure there are older kids who would get a kick out of the story but I don’t think it would have quite the same effect.
The story is entertaining, it brings both adventure and humour, but I found that it lacked a little rhythm for me; only a little mind you. A lot of picture books and stories for the very young audience have a distinctive flow and rhythm, think Hairy Maclary and Dr Seuss – there are lots of rhymes and much of the time you can learn to predict what’s coming. The Little Boy/Girl Who Lost His/Her Name doesn’t have that, which isn’t a bad thing because it’s more unpredictable and unique.
Lost My Name began as the project of three dads and an uncle . It is 100% independent, self-published and self-funded. The book is digitally printed on thick, uncoated, environmentally-friendly paper in A4 size and landscape orientation. This is a beautiful book and one that I’m sure will take pride of place on every bookshelf.
Every copy of this book is printed to order in the UK and shipped which means leaving a little longer for shipping, Not In Shops recommends allowing at least three weeks.
Lost My Name is available in Australia exclusively from Not in Shops. RRP $33.95. Shipping is FREE worldwide.
I devour books, vampires and supernatural creatures are my genre of choice but over the past couple of years, I have broadened my horizons considerably. In a nutshell – I love to write! I love interacting with a diverse range of artists to bring you interviews. Perhaps we were perfect before – I LOVE WORDS!