Picture by Lisa Kittell

With the holiday season, children are asking for toys. Books are not the same as toys, in their opinion. A personalized book, though, is almost like a toy. Children are fascinated by hearing their name mentioned in a story. They are extra surprised and pleased to hear their favorite toys or pets mentioned in the story.
 
A personalized book for a child’s holiday gift can be a lot of fun and the child will appreciate it too. You may opt to use an online interactive template or create the personalized book from scratch. Don’t worry if you don’t draw pictures well. Use stencils and coloring pencils. If the pictures are large enough and colorful, the children will love it.
 
  
Using a book template  from an online self-publishing company can be very cost-effective. Your drawings can be scanned and converted to JPEG format for the graphic book cover. The completed book is very inexpensive. You may want to design and write a book for each of the children in your life.
 
The words in the book should be less than 2,000 words, but more than 100 words. The usual number of words in a child’s book is around 750. To set the framework or template for your writing, you could interview the child, asking pre-written questions about their name, nickname, birthdate, name of toys or pets, and what their favorite activity is. You could also ask about the most fun place they have ever visited. Other relatives can be included in the book, but the child’s friends’ names should not be included in the book. If the writing must include the child’s friends, then just use the word friend instead of specifically naming the friend.
 
Children will make your gift of a personalized book  a treasured possession and will look forward to showing the book to everyone. The book will be read over and over again and will surely become the child’s keepsake even after outgrowing the book.