Bilingual personalized books from Tim Tim Tom

In exchange for a free sample, I agreed to write a review of a bilingual personalized book service from Tim Tim Tom. I am really glad I did, because the book is charming and the production is really high quality.

You can choose from a few different stories, one or two languages (Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Chinese (Simplified or Traditional)), and customize the child's name and some physical appearance attributes (boy or girl in appearance, skin color, eye color, hair color, and hair style). You can even add a dedication of your choice. The customization process was easy, and my kid was delighted when I gave him a book starring him as the main character, at least once I explained that he didn't need to be able to read Spanish to read the story. For a bilingual book, the entire story is printed in both languages on the page, so it works no matter how little or how much you know of the second language.

The resulting hardback was impeccably produced. I publish books for a living, so I'm pretty picky. The customization is on the front and back covers as well as the inside text and illustrations. The illustrations are bright and cheerful. The cover is a durable printed hardback with a matte finish, with no dustjacket, and the inside text pages are on a heavy coated paper with a great feel and excellent printing. The printing quality for this one-off book is higher than many books on my shelf that were commercially produced in long runs.

As I write this, Tim Tim Tom is only offering an ebook rather than a printed book. Book printing has been hard hit by supply chain disruptions, which may be the reason for that shift. Ebooks have their place, but I hope they will return to offering printed books soon. We all deserve to star in books that feel and look as good as this one does.