Review: Elise's Adventure on Noah's Ark & Giveaway

Summary: A great flood is coming and Noah is busy-busy working on completing a huge ark that God told him to build. Lucky for him, your little one stopped by and asked him if needed any help....which is where we begin our adventure. Watch your special loved one help Noah build the ark and take care of all the animals, in this childhood favorite Bible story. Learn the lessons in the story of Noah's Ark in a completely new and exciting way. Best for Ages 1 - 8. -- yourpicturebook.com

Recently I discovered a very unique book company called yourpicturebook.com. Yourpicture.com publishes personalized books for children, but they aren't your typical personalized books. Not only does yourpicture.com publish books that include the child's name, but they also print actual pictures of the child within the pages of the book! Do I even need to tell you how my son reacted to the idea of appearing in his very own book?

There are currently three books to choose from -- MOON DIRT MILKSHAKE, CAN COUNT, and NOAH'S ARK. All three books look adorable, but I selected ELISE'S ADVENTURE ON NOAH'S ARK. (Obviously the substituted Booking Son's Name in the place of Elise's.) All I had to do was email the company either a half body or full body high resolution photo of my son. I also had the option of writing up to four lines of text for a dedication. They do the rest!

When the book arrived at our house, it was an instant hit with Booking Son. He wasn't that impressed that the title of the book included his name, but he did think it was terribly exciting that his face appeared right on the front cover (behind a hippo!) When we started reading the book, it was almost like a Where's Waldo experience for him because the first thing he did on every page was find the picture of himself. I don't even know if he listened to the story the first time through!

The story itself is also very cute and educational. The basic premise of the Noah's Ark book is that the child is asked to assist Noah in preparing the ark as well as the weathering the storm with all of the animals. The verses are rhyming (and very catchy to read) and my son thought parts of the book were very funny. He's still talking about page 3 where he says, "What'cha doin'?" just like Isabella on Phineas and Ferb. I thought the story did great job of explaining the bible story and bringing it down to Booking Son's level.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I loved seeing my son's reaction to it. It truly is a very special book that would make a fantastic gift for any child. In fact, our entire family found it very entertaining. There was one page where Booking Son is riding an elephant that looks so funny that it almost brought tears to our eyes.

Besides these three personalized storybooks, yourpicturebook.com also has other products like DVDs, NFL posters, and coloring books. I really think they are on to something with the personalized photo products!

If you are thinking about placing an order with yourpicturebook.com, I have a coupon code that you might want to use for free shipping. At the checkout, enter mommyshipfree in the coupon code section.

Thanks to Marile at yourpicturebook.com for providing me with a review copy.

Giveaway alert: Thanks to yourpicturebook.com, I have one hardback book to giveaway to one lucky reader -- the winner gets to choose which one. To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment with a valid email address telling me which of the three books you'd choose if you won. To double and/or triple your chances, you can either follow yourpicturebook.com on twitter or friend them on facebook. The giveaway will be open until Sunday, April 25th at 11:59 p.m, and I will notify the winner the following day. This contest is open to those of you in the Continental US only. Good luck!