The book, in full
Your toddler is inventing a language as we speak.
This is the book you keep it in.
The long version. What the book is. What is inside it. The materials, the add-ons, and every answer to every question we get. For the kind of buyer who wants everything before they order.
The window
For a year or two, your child is a tiny poet.
Sometime between her first word and the year she starts school, your child invents her own private vocabulary. She calls a hippopotamus a pillowbear. She calls popcorn quockqworn. She calls a crocodile a ducktire. She says things at three in the afternoon, walking past the supermarket, that make you laugh until you cannot breathe.
It is the most inventive she will ever be: naming the whole world from scratch, getting it gloriously, perfectly wrong.
Then one day she learns the grown-up word, and the inventing quietly stops. The window is open now, and only now.
Pillowbears is the book that catches it while it is happening.
The object
A 20 by 20 cm soft-touch hardcover.
Forty-eight pages of 140 gsm uncoated FSC paper, acid-free, Smyth-sewn so the book lies flat. The kind of paper that holds its shape on a shelf for thirty years and does not yellow.
A paper-over-board cover in soft-touch matt moss, velvet to the hand, with the wordmark in gold foil and the coral P. If you add the name, we hot-foil it by hand in Malta, real gold, one book at a time. It catches the light differently at every angle.
It arrives in a cream sleeve, ready to gift. Add the rigid presentation box if you want the full unwrapping moment. No ribbon to crush in transit.
The mechanic
A sticker. A word. What it means.
Every page has a spot for a sticker and a dotted line. You apply the sticker that fits what your child means, you write the word they actually use, and you write what it means. Pages to fill, plus blank pages at the back for the words that arrive later.
And the stickers.
Twelve die-cut sticker sheets come with every book: animals, family, food, the everyday world. The pictures carry no words, so they fit any language. A premium pack of twelve more is an optional add-on.
One of twelve sticker sheets. Real product stickers shown.
The structure
One running dictionary, filled as it happens.
The book is one growing dictionary, not an alphabet and not a checklist. You fill a page whenever a new word arrives, in any order. The funny ones tend to come thick and fast between 18 months and three years.
There is no correct way. Some parents fill it as the words happen; some wait and write it all in one sitting after the toddler years end. Blank pages at the back hold the words that do not fit a sticker. The book sits with you as long as the words keep coming.
The verified archive
A few of Sam's words.
The brand started with the private dictionary one parent made for one mother. These are the entries. Yours will be different.
- pillowbearhippopotamus
- quockqwornpopcorn
- ducktirecrocodile
- pungesponge
- quackerscrackers
- miching michinewashing machine
- wallabout you?what about you?
If something goes wrong
We'll replace it. Once, no questions.
Books bend, foil scuffs, couriers sometimes leave parcels in the rain. If your book arrives damaged, write to us within the first month and we will send a replacement. Once, no questions, for the first owner. A plain Keepsake follows the standard 14-day EU return window; once you add the foil name it is personalised and falls outside the statutory withdrawal right, but the replacement promise still holds.
Frequently asked
Everything we get asked.
When does my book ship?
We are printing a first run of 500. Pre-orders ship first, and when you order we confirm the shipping window for your batch by email.
Is there one book or several?
One book, the Pillowbears Keepsake, at one price. You make it yours with optional add-ons: the name in gold foil, a rigid gift box, a premium pack of 12 more sticker sheets, and a handwritten gift card. Shipping straight to the recipient is free.
How does the name on the cover work?
The name in gold foil is an optional add-on. We hot-foil it by hand in Malta after printing, so the cover ships with a clean blank name area if you do not add it. The name is set at checkout and cannot change once we stamp it.
Is the foil real foil?
Yes. Hot-foiled gold, not printed. The gold has a slight grain when you tilt it in daylight.
What if my child invents new words after I have filled the pages?
There are blank pages at the back for words that do not fit a sticker, and for entries that arrive later.
What is the paper made of?
140 gsm uncoated FSC-certified stock, acid-free. Built to outlive the toddler years.
What if the book gets damaged in shipping?
We will replace it. Once, no questions, for the first owner.
Can I gift this?
Yes. Choose ship-to-recipient at checkout and we send it directly, with no prices in the parcel. Add a handwritten gift card and we write your message by hand and tuck it inside.
What ages is this for?
Most buyers have a child between 18 months and three years, but it works as a baby-shower gift too, since it can be filled later.
A book for the words your child makes up.
Pre-order a first-run copy of the Pillowbears Keepsake. We print 500, and pre-orders ship first.
Pre-order your copy