The Magic of Crayon Crunch

A while ago I found a really unique book that allows you to personalize the character to look like a depiction of your own child.  Sure there are lots of books that offer personalization there days - but very few that have the option to incorporate a child's special needs into the book.   I wasn't sure one even existed.  I stumbled on Crayon Crunch really by accident.  I thought initially it was a really sweet idea.  A child as the main character of a book, so that a child could visualize themselves as a character in the story on an adventure.  Noah has always loved social stories that we'd use for sensory and therapeutic purposes, but he never had a book that was all about him in by the way of fiction child's book.    I wasn't even sure if the makers of Crayon Crunch could turn Noah into a character.  But with a little communication back and forth, Noah's custom character in a wheelchair was created.  And it was precious. 

The book is easy to make, you first chose how you'd like your child character to look like.  Hair color, hair styles, eye color, eye shape, skin color, clothing choices, accessories such as glasses and shoes.  And then you give your character a name.   It's really a fun process to go through and make your child's character online.  Then you have the option of drafting a personalized note to your child that appears in the back of the book.  Something that makes even extra special.  You submit it and wait to hear back on the creation of your child's book.

Noah's Character

Luke's Character

For Noah's character we had a brief correspondence about what his character would look like because we needed a wheelchair for his character.  I wanted something that depicted his special needs and use of equipment but also made him feel like a little boy at the same time.  So Noah's character is using a standard wheelchair frame, which makes him look perhaps a bit more independent than he is in real life, but also gives Noah when he reads it a sense of understanding it's a fantasy version of himself.  

We made books for Noah and Luke, so that they'd each have their own adventure book.  The stories are the same each with their own character and special message in the back of the book.  Noah was thrilled when he seen it.  He squealed with excitement and still does every time we read that book to him.  There is something really magical about a story that features your child as a character.   The only thing I likely wish is that the book could combine characters so that Noah and his little brother could be in the same book together.  That would be really fun for them to interact in a story together with multiple children. 

These books would make a fantastic gift for a family that has both children with special needs and typical children.  It's a great suggestion for a grandparent, aunt or uncle wishing to give a special heartfelt gift for a birthday or holiday.  Crayon Crunch has great customer service and is prompt with their correspondence and completion of the book.  The softcover books retail at $34.99 and the hard cover books retail for $44.99.  Both of our books are softcovers although I do with they were hardcovers as they will be a keepsake book that they will have for a life time that will eventually wind up in a hope chest for them as they get older. 

To explore your custom personalized crayon Crunch character book you can find them here:

By far Noah and Luke's Crayon Crunch books are a favorite go-to book in our house.  They don't seem to grow bored with the story and it maintains their interest.  I hope that Crayon Crunch expands and does additional stories and adds other characters to the same story in the future.  It's a really fun and playful concept for children - especially children with special needs who have limited mobility but who are still very cognitively aware and wishing for the same childhood experiences and adventures as their peers. 

Happy Reading Adventures!

Love,



Noah's Miracle by Stacy Warden is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.