An origin story

This book is a big part of our Read To Me origin story. Shh, quickly became one of my nieces favorite books and I loved reading it to her. So much fun to do all the voices and hear her giggle.

One day I came out for a visit and my Mom was reading Shh, and of course she was using completely different voices. It was a different book when my Mom was reading it. My niece was getting to experience something familiar and new at the same time.

My niece would bring up the book all the time and I would do the voices and use the tag line shh, we have a plan all the time in everyday life. The book, and the way I read it, became a major bonding event for the two of us.

This book was so special for my niece and I, I bought a copy for my partner’s six year old son. I read it to him in my old way and was rewarded with the giggles I’d grown to expect, but when she read it to him it was in a completely different way. The book and the voices, the way she read it to him… that was something special just between the two of them.

I’d had the idea of the Book Buddy for quite a while. I knew what it was like to be read to as a child and how important that can be. How those memories can live a lifetime. How a book can form a life long connection between reader and readee. But hearing just how unique each of our interpretations were… Well, that kind of re-lit the fire. I wanted every kid to be able to experience having a reading experience personally crafted for them by a loved one. No matter the distance that separates the two of them. That’s when we went about making the Recordable Book Buddy a reality.