As you fill your child’s library, make sure to add a personalized children’s book to those library shelves stuffed with classics like Where the While Things Are. It’s a lifetime investment for your child’s imagination, education, and love of reading.

If you think we are exaggerating the importance of owning a personalized children’s book, here are 5 reasons why they are better than ordinary ones.

1. NAMEE's Personalized Children’s Book Fosters Imagination

Reading books is a wonderful way to foster your child’s imagination. Each time children hear a story, they make mental pictures (aka imagine) of the world written about within the pages. When they can imagine themselves as characters in their own story, it makes the world of make-believe seem realistic. The more opportunities they have to escape into a book, the more their imagination will blossom.

2. Personalized Children’s Books Educate in a Meaningful Way

It’s no secret that reading is a key to success in the classroom and beyond. But many people don’t realize that the key to reading is comprehension. This requires kids to have background knowledge. What better type of background knowledge for kids than characters who look like them and share the same interests?

Moreover, one study compared using a personalized children’s book to ordinary books regarding word acquisition. The study results revealed, “The children showed significantly better knowledge about the words that were in the personalized sections of the books than the words in the non-personalized sections.”

3. Personalized Stories Provide a Unique Experience

There is something so special about receiving a one-of-a-kind gift. A children’s book with a personalized story based on shared interests and characters designed to look physically similar will delight a child and provide a unique experience that he or she cannot get with any other book.

4. Personalized Books Empower Children

Peggy O’Mara once said, “The way we talk to our child becomes their inner voice.” A child who reads a personalized story where she is presented as a hero will feel like she is a hero! A personalized children’s book is designed to empower children so they can see themselves as the heroes of their own lives.

5. Personalized Story Books Inspire a Lifelong Love of Reading

One of the best reasons to invest in a personalized children’s book is because it will keep kids engaged with the text. An engaged kid is a kid who enjoys what he is reading. Plus, an engaged kid is learning.

A scientific study even found that personalized children’s books are more engaging than regular books. According to the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, “Statistical analyses revealed that children and parents showed significantly higher overall frequencies of smiles and laughs with the personalized books in comparison to the non-personalized books, and showed higher frequency of vocal activity with the personalized as opposed to the child's favourite book.” The study also found children laughed and smiled at a higher rate when reading a personalized children’s book in comparison to one without their identities.