A book is not the right gift for every occasion. It is quiet, it asks the receiver to do something, and a child tearing off wrapping paper in front of an audience would usually rather find a toy. But there are occasions a book suits better than anything else, usually the ones that are really about marking something rather than entertaining somebody. Christmas The strongest case for a book at Christmas is as the second gift, not the first. Let the loud thing be the loud thing. The book is what is still there in February, and in many families it becomes the Christmas Eve one. One practical note: personalised anything is made to order, so order earlier than feels necessary. Checkout shows the current estimate before you pay. A naming ceremony or christening Almost the ideal occasion for a book, because nothing else you can give a week-old baby will be used either, and a book at least becomes usable later. It also handles the awkwardness of buying for a person who does not have a personality yet — you are giving to the family, and to the child they will be. Ghana Month, and Black History Month Ghana Month falls in March. Black History Month is October in the UK and February in the US, which catches people out constantly when family is split across both. These are the occasions where schools ask children to bring something in, and where a diaspora parent can suddenly feel put on the spot. A book set in a real Ghanaian place, with your own child in it, is a better answer to that than a printout about kente. It is also, usefully, a thing the child can show rather than explain. A first day of school Underrated. A child starting school is being asked to be brave on a schedule, and a story about a child who was frightened and went anyway lands differently in that week than in any other. If the frightened child in the story has their face, it lands differently again. What to write on the first page This is the part people leave blank and later wish they had not. A few things that work: Date it. In twenty years the date is the part that will matter most and the part nobody can reconstruct. Say where you were, not just who you are. "From Auntie Efua, in London, the winter you turned four" beats "Happy Birthday, love Auntie Efua". Write to the older child they will be, not the toddler unwrapping it. They will read it when they can read. One sentence is enough. Inscriptions get worse the longer they go on. The books we make Ours are personalised picture books where your child is illustrated as the hero of a story set at Kakum National Park in Ghana. There is a dedication page near the front, printed with the child's name. Everything in the list above goes underneath it in your own handwriting, which is the one part of any book a printer cannot do for you.