Flights are expensive and schedules tight, so parents with relatives who don’t live nearby often have a hard time forging a connection between their children and the rest of their family. Now Starring Us, a new company launched just a few days ago, can help them cement connections.
Books that can be personalized have been in the market for years, but Starring Us products are different; each character in their books can be personalized so that the main character can interact and have adventures with a host of relatives or friends.
The idea came to co-workers Rob Ernst and Dave Handler, one Shabbos when the Handlers were over for a meal. Both families are New Jersey residents, but their wives have family living in Florida and Michigan they don’t get to see often. Mr. Ernst’s mother-in-law had recently Scotch-taped faces into a children’s book and that sparked the idea.
Since then, along with their wives Ofe Ernst and Erika Handler—who have been doing much of the heavy lifting—they’ve worked with an illustrator and a web designer to launch their product. On the website are 10 books family members and friends can use to tell stories about going to the fair and zoo; celebrating Chanukah, Thanksgiving, and birthdays; visiting relatives; being visited by relatives; and more.
“The focus of Starring Us isn’t to make a child the hero of a story, rather, it is to familiarize that child with his or her family members (and friends), notably those seen least often, through engaging, colorful stories of reunion, celebration, and adventure,” Starring Us said in a press statement.
Each book is customizable. After creating an account on www.starringus.com, the shopper picks a book, each with different character counts and male-to-female ratios. The next step is to upload photos and assign a real-life person to each character. After that, the Starring Us programming automatically populates the rest of the book. The book can also have a custom dedication, and each story can be purchased in English or Spanish. Mrs. Ernst’s family is originally from Cuba and they recognize the large market for Spanish language books.
Purchasing options are e-books, soft cover books, hard cover books, and spiral bound laminated books that are tear and spill resistant. Turnaround is about two weeks from the day an order is placed.
Starring Us was beta tested for six weeks and friends of both families who have tried it have loved the results. The children love seeing themselves in print and “meeting” their relatives for fun activities.
“With a lot of passion and dedication, the Handlers and the Ernsts have given life to an idea that falls near and dear to their hearts,” the release says, “bringing family and friends just a little closer together.”
By Aliza Chasan
