Christmas gift for a 14-year-old: a personalised children's book starring them

A 14-year-old might not need another picture book. But a story starring them could still be just the right gift. With one or two short paragraphs per page, dialogue and plenty of suspense, it can be as wonderfully over the top as you like. The illustrations are based on a photo, and you can edit the text until every line feels right.

Create a book for a 14-year-old

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A 14-year-old's world

Fourteen is an age of contrasts. One day your teenager wants to be left alone; the next, they're lingering at the dinner table to talk about life. Friends, music and everything happening on their phone take up a lot of space, and responsibilities are growing too: schoolwork, sports and perhaps a first part-time job. Fourteen-year-olds have strong opinions and often enjoy a good debate. Behind the cool exterior, there's often a wish to be seen for who they are. A book for this age can play with that. Let the hero be a little too cool, let the adults have no idea what's going on, and end the adventure with the teenager being right all along.

Would you like to see a finished book before you decide? Browse our example books.

Themes with a sense of humour

A train journey could become a story about travelling alone for the first time, complete with a delayed departure, a mysterious fellow passenger and a teenager who has everything under control. For something spookier, choose a haunted house: creaking floors, a torch that goes out and a ghost who turns out to be more frightened than the hero. Both are perfect for someone who likes being right.

Choose a theme

Getting a gift right for a 14-year-old

The trick with a gift for a 14-year-old is to make it thoughtful without making it embarrassing. Build the book around the things that matter to them: their interests, their friends, that unusual nickname or the cat who's their only ally at home. Ask about the photo and whether their friends are happy to be included. Choose a style that doesn't look too childish, such as comic book, and a font to match. Respect or courage can run through the story without being too obvious. In the foreword, you can say what you rarely get a chance to say over breakfast: that you're proud of them, and why.

For their 14th birthday and beyond

A 14-year-old can read the book on their own and might laugh more than expected. It makes a gift for their birthday, after a trip you've taken together or at the end of a tough school year. They might not show it to their friends straight away, but it may well find a place where they can see it. Grandparents might like a copy of their own, and the eBook can be shared by email. With the audiobook, they can listen to the story on their headphones too. In a few years, the book will be a reminder of what it was like to be fourteen, and of someone who understood.