Kid of the world DIY customizable children’s multilingual picture books
As we’re a trilingual family (speaking English, French and Chinese Mandarin), I’m always looking out for bilingual or multilingual learning resources for my son. My friend from Geneva, Switzerland, a father of two, started this amazing company, Kid of the World, which makes childrens’ books in multiple languages. You can customise up to 4 languages. How cool is that? I think this is ingenious and I’ve never seen anything like it on the market. It is super quick and easy to DIY online too. Anyone can do it. The website is super interactive. And shipping was pretty quick given it came from the UK to Australia!
So far there are three themes: Fruit and vegetables, Toys/play and Animals. They will be coming out with more themes as time goes on… We are loving reading these books to our son every night and would love to recommend them to all my blog readers.
Read on to see what the founder himself had to say:
Othman’s wife with their daughter
Hi, I’m Othman. I’m Swiss and Moroccan. My wife is British, born and raised in Holland. We have two children, Adam and Sarah. My children are learning English and French (at home and at school) and they are exposed to an environment where friends and family speak Dutch and Arabic. Their nanny is from the Ivory Coast. Like many of us in today’s world, we feel lucky to live in an international and multicultural environment.
We love to read and sing to Adam and Sarah (we aim to read at least two books per day). When reading to them, books are often in one language only. For the same word, my children cannot compare their languages without opening four different books.
So, the idea came naturally to create a book that can be opened by anyone in the family. A book that contains all my children’s languages at once; where they may discover their languages and learn that each language is valuable and distinct from the other languages.
I heard about print-on-demand, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to use it. I started working with a children’s book illustrator to produce a set of illustrations featuring animals. But it took me three years to build the software that creates vocabulary picture books containing any combination of languages for these images.
Several challenges came along the way, such as how to handle all sorts of alphabets and spellings, how to find correct translations for any language, how to automate book generation, print and ship them on demand, how to find time to work on the project alongside a full-time job and two little energetic children at home!
When I received the first book from the printer and I read it for the first time to my children, I realized that I enjoyed reading it as much as they liked listening to it. Going through all the words in my second language made me think of my own childhood in Morocco; and listening to the words in my wife’s languages made me feel more connected to her culture. Reading these books became an enjoyable moment for all of us. I first ask my children what languages they want to discover, then I read every word in the chosen language or I ask them to finger point a certain word.
I realized that the book, beyond helping children learn about their languages, contributes to help them realize the richness of their cultural background and help them be proud of who they are. Speaking several languages offers several benefits. And I think that children speaking multiple languages are more likely to be open-minded and responsible citizens of the world, hence the name “Kid of the World”. If your children learn to speak their different languages, they will feel connected to their multiple cultures. This will enable them to fit in anywhere and is likely to promote acceptance of others from different backgrounds.
This beautiful idea turned out to be the mission of Kid of the World: Making the world better, one kid at a time.
How can one not be amazed when a book is created with a wonderful combination of languages? I dream to think that somewhere on the planet out there, there’s a little boy who speaks English, Chinese and French, or a little girl learning learning Swedish, Spanish, Icelandic and Irish.. I just want to meet their families and hug them.
Book Specifications:
- Size of the book: A5 format, portrait (148 x 210 mm or 5.8 x 8.3 inches)
- Available in soft cover and hard cover
- Number of pages: 24
- Weight: 90 grams per book
- Shipping is available worldwide (via UPS or UK Royal Mail)
- Sustainability: Our print partner in UK is FSC, PEFC Chain of Custody, and ISO 14001
Book customizations:
- Choose amongst 100+ available languages (the customer may contact us if s/he does not find a language or dialect)
- Add up to 4 languages per book (more languages possible upon request)
- Customize with a dedication that appears on the first page (e.g. Hello my name is John, I can speak…)
- 3 different themes: 1) Animals, 2) Fruit and Vegetables and 3) Toys/Play (more coming in the future)
- Choose between softcover or hardcover versions
- Add a personalized greeting card and gift wrapping paper
You can find Kid of the world online at https://kidoftheworld.com/
Why don’t you make your own book today for your child/ren, or as a gift?
