Top 3 reasons why your child needs deeply personalised books

The lack of representation in children’s literature remains pervasive, which is why many parents and educators are now preferring to create deeply personalised books.

According to BookTrust and The Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, only 10% of children’s books published in the UK features a character from a Black, Asian, or minority ethnic background. But unfortunately, even the books within that 10% might not actually represent your child.

That's why personalised books can be a lifesaver. Let’s look at just three of the many benefits deeply customised books can have for your kids.

What are deeply personalised books?

You may be wondering what a deeply personalised book looks like. In essence, these are pieces of literature that have stories and illustrations relevant to your child’s life. They go beyond the shallow representation of token minority characters and feature stories that are uniquely representative of your child.

This makes deeply customised books perfect for multicultural families, children with disabilities, or immigrant families wanting to keep in touch with their culture.

Top 3 reasons why your child needs a deeply personalised book

Improves self-esteem

One of the most important aspects of personalised books is the ability to boost your child’s self-esteem. These stories generally focus on how to overcome difficult situations and develop virtuous qualities, e.g., honesty, respect, bravery.

That means that when your child reads a story about a character they identify with overcoming difficult obstacles, they’ll feel that they can do the same thing. Deeply personalised books can be a powerful tool to help your child see their potential and boost their confidence.

Enhances reading skills

Reading is the only way to improve literacy skills so it’s important that children are continually developing positive habits and associations with literature.

When children identify with characters and see themselves in the story, they are building the habits of a strong reader. These engaging stories push them to keep on reading and see themselves as a reader.

Even from a very young age, personalised books can help children set the foundations of strong literacy skills by improving vocabulary acquisition and text comprehension.

Creates a passionate reader

The third reason for why your child needs a personalised book might actually be the most important! Of course, improving literacy skills is important, but an interest in reading will serve them for the rest of their life.

Personalised books lead to your child to developing a love for reading and a desire for lifelong learning. The amount of relevance in the story helps them to realise how wonderful the literary world can be. They’ll be able to easily immerse themselves in the books and become passionate readers.

The bookshelf made to give children representation

There are many more reasons why personalised books are an essential part of children’s literature. But when we’re talking about your child, these books can help them in a myriad of ways. They’ll become better readers, enjoy a better future, and bring out the best in themselves. In other words, adding deeply personalised books to a child’s library can truly be a life-changing moment for them.

Pibbon Bookshelf is the library for children who don't ordinarily see themselves represented in books. We worked with researchers, authors, and illustrators to design a bookshelf that will turn your child into a passionate reader. It’s been proven again and again that representation in literature matters - so check out Pibbon and make sure your child is faithfully represented.