**CONTEST CLOSED. CONGRATULATIONS TO WINNER JENNIFER VANDER HAMM**

It’s official: Colorado is the Mecca for talented MOMpreneurs.

My interactions with Denver mama Jessica Ziegler confirmed this. She has launched Story Tots, a line of super-personalized children’s books she has written and illustrated. And as the daughter of famed New Yorker cartoonist Jack Ziegler, she knows writing…and illustration.

It is my daughter Hadley’s birthday this month and I sat down with her to create her book online. She was delighted to be the heroine of her own fairytale. We submitted her choices on the Web site and after just a couple of weeks, I received the finished product in the mail. I will surprise her with it during her birthday party.

What I like about Story Tots: it transcends the usual name-only customization and we were able to create everything from her heroine’s hair color, to glasses, to freckles. You can currently choose from five different stories: Catch Those Monkeys!, The Princess Crown, Dinosaur Circus, The Dragon of Snoobledoob and Super Suction Man and the Troublesome Dust Bunnies.

After leaving the professional world of web design, marketing and Illustration for the wilds of stay-at-home motherhood, Jessica discovered how much her son loved hearing stories that involved him. “Though there are other books on the market that can be personalized they tend to only go so far as a child’s name or a single photograph,” says Jessica. “I wanted to give children an illustrated character that had their likeness and truly reflected the character’s journey through the story.”

We are thrilled to give away a Story Tots book that you can create with your child! To enter, simply email us at with “Story Tots” in the subject line. Please include your mailing address. Contest deadline is May 31, 2009.

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