Luke started Year R this September and after only half a term at school, I’ve witnessed his thirst for knowledge surge. In particular, his interest in the alphabet, phonics, reading and spelling has taken me by complete surprise. I did not expect my kid to come home after two or three weeks of school and be able to spell words like ‘sad’ or ‘pot’, let alone come home and start spelling out Mikey’s name for him.

Maybe I haven’t looked into the Year R curriculum as well as I should have, maybe it’s just a mother’s pride, maybe I just don’t give him enough credit…whatever the reason for my surprise, my heart swells when we do his ‘homework’ and his keen interest in reading has only increased with the start of ‘big boy school’.

I received an email one day asking if I’d be interested in reviewing a personalised children’s book. Reading is such a huge part of my life, and I’m keen to encourage Luke to share in my love of books, so I immediately replied with a “yes please!”

Luke finds his name in The Alphabet Train

Dr Niamh has written a personalised children’s book called “Find My Name In The Alphabet Train”. As you’d imagine, the story focuses on letters, sounds and rhymes and fits in perfectly with Luke’s current age, interests and abilities.

Personalisation is an amazing concept to children. If it’s got their name on it, or it looks like them, they will love it! In fact, Dr Niamh states on her website that it’s nine times more likely that your child will engage with reading if their name is written into the story.

Personalising Find My Name In The Alphabet Train

It’s not just the name that is customisable when purchasing a copy of Find My Name In The Alphabet Train though. Your child is also illustrated into the story – Luke always opens the book and immediately sees his picture and points, saying “look Mummy, that’s me and this is my train!” The representative image of your child is designed especially so that your little ones will instantly be able to recognise themselves in the book, with the offer of choice of hair and skin colour and whether or not glasses are worn.

About The Story

This hardback book is 60 pages of bright and colourful illustrations and clever rhyming. At the beginning of the story, your child meets a train full of cute animal characters, who end up taking you and your child on an exciting adventure through the letters and sounds of the alphabet.

The rhyming story is written with phonics in mind, so each character and each letter you meet has it’s own personality. When you meet a new character, you are encouraged to read the letter sounds at the end of sentences and familiarise yourself with the sounds by reading the rest of the page which has words beginning with the same sounds. For example: ‘The sound of this letter’s amazing to say: A a a, said Ant. Make the sound of this letter, let’s play! A a a.’

Luke loves the repetition of the letter sounds and I’ve found it’s been the perfect accompaniment to his learning in Year R so far.

Find My Name In The Alphabet Train offers a unique and engaging way of learning with your child. We’ve enjoyed sitting down together to have a nice cuddle and a read. Luke’s massively enjoyed finding the letters from his name, as prompted at the end of each animal character’s page: ‘…to look for a K that might lurk in his name.’ Luke’s started to point out not only the letters in his name, but he’s also recognising the letters from other people’s names too.

No One Has To Miss Out On The Of The Joys Of Reading

Reading and writing with children is so important and it’s a time of day that I really enjoy doing with Luke. The font used in this children’s book is dyslexic-friendly and has been especially chosen to help every child to read and write – ensuring that no one has to miss out on the joys of reading.

​As a parent, I enjoyed reading this book with Luke immensely. It’s magical to watch his little eyes sparkle as he connects the letter sounds and the animals and the words all together. Reading books like this is what childhood is all about – it’s absolutely wonderful.

Find My Name In The Alphabet Train Giveaway

I have enjoyed this book so much and so has Luke. It’s for this reason that I am delighted to say I have the opportunity to give away one hardback copy of Find My Name In The Alphabet Train to one lucky Lukeosaurus And Me reader!

I think that all children in the first few years of school could really benefit and reap the rewards from reading a book like Dr Niamh’s ‘Find My Name In The Alphabet Train’ and that’s why I’m so excited to be able to host this giveaway for one winner to win a hardback copy of the book, personalised for their child.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

T&C’s for entering Find My Name In The Alphabet Train Giveaway

• You are entering to win 1 hardback copy of a Find My Name In The Alphabet Train, customisable for your child.
• This giveaway is open to UK residents only
• Entrants must be 18+
• Giveaway opens on 23/10/2017 at 12am and closes 05/11/2017 at 12am.
• I am not responsible for the shipping and handling of your prize. If you encounter any problems, I will help the best I can to get things sorted for you, but I cannot take responsibility.
• The winner will be contacted by email and via Twitter (if you enter your handle in the Rafflecopter widget). For this reason, please ensure the information you enter with is valid.
• If you are prompted to enter a website URL when commenting, please leave this blank if you do not have a blog/your own website (ie. please don’t enter your Facebook account or similar).
• Once the winner has been randomly selected, you will have 1 week to get back in touch with me. Once you’ve replied to me, I will forward your details to the appropriate person who can ship your prize to you.
• If you do not reply after 1 week, I will re-draw and a new winner will be selected.

*I was sent a copy of Find My Name In The Alphabet Train for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions are my own.