I don't want my kids to read books...
said no parent ever!
The Problem
Literacy rates across OECD countries have been declining since 2012.
Even more, we've seen firsthand how social media and bite-sized dopamine hits are undermining our children's ability to deeply engage with text. We're on a mission to change that.
We're a small, founder-led team. Several of us are parents who've personally seen the challenges our kids face. We know that without meaningful, immersive reading experiences, our children won't develop the skills and knowledge they'll need to navigate the complexities of the future.
Traditional publishing has struggled to keep pace, rarely challenging the "fast-food content culture" that's now a part of everyday life.
If we don't act now, we're heading towards an epidemic of intellectual obesity, where quick fixes replace deep, thoughtful understanding.
Meet the Founder
Nauris Dorbe
Founder, Blossom Reads
Hi, I'm Nauris.
I'm a dad of two. My six-year-old just started kindergarten, with all the chaos that brings. My one-year-old is still on my shoulders for most family walks. The last four years of being a parent are the reason Blossom Reads exists.
When my older son was small, I started watching the same thing every parent I know is watching. Kids whose attention spans shorten every year. Kids who pick a tablet over a book without thinking. I read the research. I tried the obvious fixes. Nothing I bought at a bookshop was strong enough to compete with a feed.
What I kept coming back to was this. Kids will reach for a book on their own, again and again, if the book feels like it is about them. Not 'personalised' with their name swapped in. Actually about them. Their face. Their world. A story that fits where they are right now in their reading.
I built the smallest version of that in early 2023, sent it to friends with kids, watched what happened, and kept going.
That is what Blossom Reads is. Every book is printed, posted to your door, written for your child specifically, and illustrated to look like them. There is no app. There is no feed. There is no subscription. The book sits on the shelf and gets pulled out again and again. That is the whole job.
I want to be honest about the AI part, because this is where most personalised book companies are getting it wrong right now.
I have spent eleven years building production AI systems, including for Ericsson, Brainbase, and a public-sector deployment that has been running in production since 2017. I know exactly how AI is being used badly with children today: bulk-generated content with no editorial layer, models that produce something that looks fine on a quick glance and falls apart on the second read. Blossom Reads uses AI heavily, but applied with care. It matches an illustrated character to your child's photos. It fits a story to their reading stage and interests. It makes sure no two books we ever ship are the same. And the human part of the job, which I take more seriously, is the editorial review on every order before it prints.
We are still small. I personally read most of the support emails. If a book is not right when you preview it, I will rewrite it, regenerate the illustrations, or refund you. That promise is not buried in the small print. It is the only way I want to run this.
Books print from partners in the US and the UK depending on where you order from, so most orders ship within a week.
If you want to talk, I am easy to find on LinkedIn, or you can write to me at nauris.dorbe@blossomreads.com. I read every email.
The Vision and Mission
We want kids to ask for the book again. That is the whole thesis. A story where your child is the main character, illustrated to look like them, written at their reading level, about things they actually care about. We call it Fun-ctional Literature: a book is only doing its job if a child wants to reopen it.
Join us in shaping the future, one story at a time.
The Roadmap
Today: every book stars your child by name, age and look, drawn from your photos and built around one of 60+ story recipes co-designed by educators and psychologists.
Next: stories that pull in your child's real world. The best friend's name, the family dog, the trip you took last summer. Then licensed characters they already love.
Then: reading levels and layouts that grow with your child. Year one is simple words and big pictures. Year five is chapters and harder vocabulary, same beloved character. One library that follows them up the reading ladder.
Every recipe gets vetted by educators, psychologists, illustrators, and parents before it ships. We refine relentlessly on one signal: do kids ask for the book again.
Built for the floor, the bath, the car seat. Today: 170 gsm wipe-clean paper that opens flat. Coming: textured covers and sound for kids who reread until the pages curl.