Review: 'Twas The Night Before Christmas (with Santa's Bag Sweepstakes!)

By Clement C. Moore
Adapted and illustrated by Daniel Kirk
Available now from Put Me In The Story (Sourcebooks)
Review copy

I find making the personalized Put Me In The Story books quite fun.  The builder engine is quite easy to use -- you can even see the text and picture you put in immediately.

I personalized 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS for my nephew.  I enjoyed figuring out the right message to include for him, and had plenty of lines to include a nice sentiment.  His picture appears twice in the book: once at the beginning and once at the end, in an ornament you can cut out.

'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS is based on the classic poem by Clement C. Moore.  There are a few changes, like dreams of yummy treats instead of sugar plums.  (I must admit, I didn't understand the point of that change.)  The real draw for this version of the poem is Daniel Kirk's illustrations.  They're adorable and bright, with beautiful textured details.

I think this makes a nice, personalized gift.  You could win a copy for yourself, as well as copies of OUR LITTLE DEER by Sarah Magsamen and SANTA IS COMING TO MY HOUSE by Steven Smallman, and a $750 gift card.  You can enter once per day through December 8th. Details are as follows.

Enter here and get a 30% off coupon: http://books.putmeinthestory.com/santas-bag-sweepstakes/
Official rules here: http://www.putmeinthestory.com/santas-bag-sweepstakes-official-rules.html

SANTA’S BAG SWEEPSTAKES FROM PUT ME IN THE STORY

Put Me In The Story, the #1 personalized books site in the U.S., has hundreds of personalized books and gifts for newborns, kids, and even grown-ups! With a diverse selection of personalized story books, activity books, adult coloring books, adorable plush and more, Put Me In The Story is a fantastic spot to find personalized gifts that become beloved keepsakes.

As a huge thank you to their customers, Put Me In The Story is hosting SANTA'S BAG SWEEPSTAKES, just in time for Christmas! Now through December 8, enter each day for a chance to win the grand prize in Santa’s bag of goodies.

Review and Giveaway: Personalized Peanuts Books

The books from Put Me In the Story allow you to create personalized books for young readers.  Two of their newest books are perfect gifts before you take your family to see The Peanuts Movie (which you can do by winning the $30 movie gift card by entering at the end of the post).  Those books are MY FIRST PEANUTS: ABC - An Alphabet Adventure and MY FIRST PEANUTS: 123 - A Counting Adventure.  Both use text and pictures by Peanuts' creator Charles Schulz.

I loved that the book builder engine let me browse through the book while I created it.  I could input who I was giving the books to, who the books were from, and include a dedication and optional hi-res photo.  MY FIRST PEANUTS: 123 - A Counting Adventure also lets you input the recipient's age.  I personalized these for my first cousins once removed Zane and Max.

The resulting book has no dust jacket, on which your mileage may very.  I liked it because the first thing I do when passing books to my younger relatives is take off the jacket so that it doesn't get ruined.  The pages aren't as glossy as some, probably due to the custom printing, but they are a nice weight.  The bright colors print well.  There's plenty of white space in the name tags and dedications for longer names.  I also like that the name is used throughout the story, not just on the cover.

MY FIRST PEANUTS: 123 - A Counting Adventure counts one through ten using iconic Peanuts scenes, and ends with a custom poster that you can cut out.

I rather like 8, to no one's surprise.

MY FIRST PEANUTS: ABC - An Alphabet Adventure illustrates each letter with alliterative sentences.  It also ends with a custom poster that can be cut out.

They even did well with q!

Both of these books make great gifts.  From now through Saturday (10/31), you can use the code SNOOPY to get $10 off of both MY FIRST PEANUTS: ABC - An Alphabet Adventure and MY FIRST PEANUTS: 123 - A Counting Adventure.  That makes each personalized book $19.99.

Win a $30 Movie Gift Card so you & your family can see The Peanuts Movie!

Winner will be notified on November 2.

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