I am tickled to be a part of MarbleSpark, a groovy little company dedicated to producing outstanding personalized picture books that not only entertain but, as our company name suggests, ignite young imaginations!
How does it work? Simply visit, MarbleSpark, and plug in your child’s name and birthday along with a personal dedication and watch as a book evolves to include the information you provide. Pretty cool, but there’s more! If you don’t love the illustration the site chooses for a specific page, you have the option to select an alternate image. Half the fun is building your child’s book. The other half is watching her face light up when a real hardcover book arrives in the mail with her very own name on the front and in the story!
Books by MarbleSpark
Following Featherbottom
by Phillip Haussler
illustrated by Brad Sneed
technology by Ken Wiebke
When an order for a new name (the name is provided by you) arrives at the company headquarters for, Letter Getter, Inc., faithful employee, Felix Featherbottom (a leggy stork with a long-beaked smile) takes flight with froggy co-pilot, Pierre Du Pond. Their mission: to travel far and wide in search of letters that spell that very special name. To collect an “E”, Felix might land in El Paso.
“To catch an E near old El Paso,
I’ll find an emu and use my lasso.”
Within the illustration there are items that begin with the letter, “E”. An emu wears a Texas-sized hat emblazoned with a large “E”. She stands over a clutch of green emu eggs, and one out-of-place eightball! The sun is hidden by the moon. Let’s see, what’s that called?… Oh yeah, it’s an eclipse! There is an eye chart, and if you look closely, you will find Pierre on an exercise bike!
El Paso is a fun place to visit, but there’s no time to dally, so Felix collects the “E” and flaps off with Pierre to the next stop on their adventure. Will it be Moscow? Sydney? Limerick? It all depends on that special name!
There’s even a bit of Geography to be learned here, as near the end when all the letters have been collected, Felix presents a world map with each letter plotted. Young children will delight in the rollicking, rhyming text and colorful illustrations. Older kiddos and adults will get a kick out of finding elements on the page that begin with the appropriate letter. Following Featherbottom is a treat for the ears, eyes, and mind!
