Saronti Review Video from erin cox on Vimeo.

A lot depends on the quality of the family photos submitted- the better the photo, the better the book as we say! We are very aware that people are buying a unique, special book which is more than likely to be a gift for someone- so we are extra careful to make sure all the details we have are correct .

Once okayed by customer service team the photos are sent to our production team where they cut out the heads and place the family members in the book template, making sure the names are changed too.

Once completed, the book is then sent to our quality control- where it’s double checked for family name errors, and head alignment.

Then it’s off to the printers who print and post. The easy part for the customer is buying the book- then the real work starts.

When buying a Saronti children’s photobook you’re buying more than a storybook- you’re getting a lifelong Book of memories.

On the day of the visit the kids were so excited, worrying about if he was going to throw chairs or spit out chewing gum on the floor, I was more intrigued by what he’d look like- or would it be a she dressed up like a ‘he’. Would it be a costume- with full on prosthetics or just a geezer in a dishevelled shirt and shorts? Well as it turns out Horrid Henry had been extremely naughty and wasn’t allowed out by his Mum!!! 30 heartbroken kids and a mob of peed off teachers and parents struggled to contain the wave of emotion.
So as we whiled away the time reading with the kids and talking about their favourite ‘Horrid’ moments it struck me of the hug difference between the girls take on it and the boys.

The boys think he’s well cool- as he’s always in trouble, eats nothing but rubbish, hates schoolwork and is generally every parents’ nightmare teenager about 5 years too soon. The girls on the other hand see him as rude, disruptive and you certainly wouldn’t want him in your set of friends.

When one of the parents argued that Horrid Henry is a terrible book for children as it leads them down the wrong path and glorifies troublemakers- I argued that on the other hand it shows some children that the opposite of Henry is the right way to be and they then aspire to be everything he’s not- and as all the stories show- Henry always comes a cropper at the end!!

So is it that boys follow the leader- no matter where it takes them- and girls analyse everything and then decide which is the correct path- or just that boys like farty stinkbomb jokes???

My 6 yr old came home with the best book ever. ‘The nearly ghost baby’.

Yep sounds a bit weird and not really what you imagine a 6yr old reading, but hey each to their own, thought I.  She started reading it in the van on the way home from gymnastics- after we’d picked up the 11yr old enroute from table tennis (it’s a long story). Avoiding the smell of fish from the refrigerated back of the van (even longer story), we thought a distraction was in order.

The 11yr old began the huge long sigh before the first page had even been opened- yes it’s a male 11 yr old!!. As the 6 yr old- yes female- launched into the opening scene of a small seaside cottage where a tragedy occurred 100 years ago, he removed his hands from his ears, stopped humming and sat back to listen. 40 mins,( yes it’s a long drive home), 7 chapters and a lot of ooing and aahing later we arrived home and the book was finished.

Well what a revelation, the book was brilliant, the kids chatted about the story like they were life long friends and the 11 yr olds interest in books seemed to be re-ignited. That is until he came home the following day moaning he had to read Silas Marner for English- Oh well things are back to normal!!!