My youngest was delighted to help me review a title from the children’s books available at In The Book. He is a huge fan of Beano Annuals. He has 34 different ones that he has collected over the years. So naturally, the personalised Beano books captured my attention. I knew he would treasure adding another Beano book to his ever-growing collection. It was nice just having a book arrive and not having to scan car boot sales or charity shops. Which was our usual way to try and find another old title he didn’t already own!

What I liked is that you can pick which year you would like starting from as far back as 1940! The older annuals are much harder to get hold of. An original 1970 annual went for £3,505 in October 2012, which is completely out of our price range! However, these high-quality scans from the original annuals mean you don’t have to miss out on the enjoyment of reading those vintage comic strips. Which is perfect for true fans of the books who just want to immerse themselves in anything Beano.

I went for 1940 for my son because I knew he definitely did not have a Beano that went back that far! My In The Book order arrived quickly and in a beautiful gift box. The box costs an extra £5. However it does improve the presentation if you are buying a book as a present for someone special.

Feeling Nostalgic With Beano

When his order arrived, he couldn’t wait to open it! His eyes lit up when he saw it was a Beano book! He dashed off with his new book and settled down to read straight away.

It was a bit of a novelty for him to read such an old comic strip with lots of characters he was not familiar with, like Big Eggo the ostrich or Tricky Dicky Ant.

It kept his attention for ages.

The only thing I would say with older annuals is some of the content might not be very politically correct. The content of this particular annual was 80 years old, so a lot has changed in that time. I guess its interesting from a historical perspective but if it’s a present for a child they might repeat what they read!

The 1940 Beano Book had longer chunks of text which is good if you want your child to do more reading than the newer comic strips offer. Seeing how pleased my son was with his book I do think I would definitely order further years for him. Also, he was pleased that because it’s a newly scanned book it was in lovely condition. Many of his older titles have problems with the binding and look quite tatty. He takes such pride in his books but some of his original Beano books are in a sorry state. He would much prefer all his Beano’s were from In The Book now. Plus he loved having his name and a message from me in the book.

Books Make Wonderful Gifts

Books make the best presents. They can improve our child’s literacy, inspire them and build their imagination. I always try and pick out some books for my boys at Christmas and birthdays. Fortunately In The Book have books for babies, toddlers, primary school children and teens, so its easy to find something suitable. Encouraging your children to love books is really one of the best gifts you can ever give them.

You can read more book reviews on my site.