It is no secret that I am a sucker for a personalised gift, even more so when it comes to personalised books. I just think that they are so beautiful and become gifts that children want to cherish for years, so when I was asked if I would like to review a new personalised book concept called the Beans and Sparks Club I obviously had to agree.
What is the Beans and Sparks Club?
The Beans and Sparks Club is a monthly book subscription service with a difference. Firstly the books are personalised to your child, they will include their name and you can also create an avatar that represents them choosing from a range of hair, skin and eye colours, hair styles, the addition of freckles and with or without glasses. Secondly, and most importantly if you ask me, is that each book follows a different theme and has a take home message that your child will hopefully carry with them as they develop and grow.
For example the last few months have covered the following important topics
March – Emotions
April – Adventure
May – Science
June – Creativity
Connor was sent the June book for creativity called “What Makes Hippos Fly? Connor Tells A Tale” and having his name on the front along side a little boy who looks similar to him really caught his attention and he couldn’t wait to read it.
The first thing I noticed about the book was the nice bright colours and simple but lovely illustrations by Monika Suska. I also liked how the story had a little bit of everything from an easy to understand story line, some rhyming sentences, and text layout that changes with the story making it more engaging for the child. At 6 Connor is becoming a confident reader himself, although he still loves being read to, especially at bed time, and I feel this is a good level for children and caregivers to co read as there aren’t too many words on a page that they feel over whelmed but there are still a few tricky words that they may need support with.
Connor enjoyed listening to the story and then trying to read it himself and the idea of magic binoculars really caught his imagination and I would be interested in reading some more of the Beans & Sparks club books and look forward to seeing what additional themes they cover, I’m hoping for one with a take away message about manners as I feel this can often be forgotten when material is created to address personal skills, but we will have to wait and see.
Overall I would say that this book successfully addresses creativity and encourages children to start thinking about their own tales, I know we sure had fun making some of our own up once we had finished reading about the hippo in this one.
If you want to sign up to Beans and Sparks club you can do so for £12.99 a month which I think is a fabulous price for a personalised book and at the moment they are offering you the chance to have the first book for free, just pay £1.99 for postage, bargain.
If you love a good personalised book then check out our review of the Lost my name book which are perfect for pre schoolers.
(We were sent a copy of a book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own).