A children’s retail book provides an opportunity to unlock your hidden stories, engage with families and provides the perfect legacy, cementing the memories of a great day out. In turn, a successful book will increase brand loyalty and create opportunities for your visitors to share their experience with friends and family, increasing your visitor numbers. Plus, there is the opportunity to increase your sales from your beautifully produced book!

At Colour Heroes, we take a collaborative approach with all our resources. We work with your marketing, educational or retail team to ensure we create an engaging book, tailored to your target audience. Your bespoke retail book will be sympathetic to your brand guidelines, your preferred illustrative style and most importantly your budget. We will discuss how your book will be used. Perhaps it’s a guide for children and families, helping them to explore and learn the stories of your unique site, or it might be a gift to take home as a keepsake from their great day out with you.

We offer a full service, from initial brief through to delivery of your printed retail book to site. During the design process, our in-house creative team will work collaboratively with you to create hand-drawn illustrations, create educational text and engaging puzzles and games to fit with your target age range.

With over 30 years’ experience in the printing industry, we can offer advice on the most suitable FSC papers and finish for your products. We want to ensure your retail book is cost-effective and delivers a profitable income stream, whilst considering the sustainably of materials and processes.

Clients tell us that their retail book has helped to increase brand awareness and engagement, increased footfall and improved their family visitors’ overall experience:

Visitors explore more of their site and stay for longer, increasing secondary spend.
Visitors engage more with their brand which improves customer loyalty.
Visitors enjoy a more positive experience at the site, creating a lasting impression and increasing return visits.
Visitors are more likely to recommend the site to friends and family.
Visitor experience managers have reported much improved visitor experience scores and visitors have visited more frequently.

The William Wallace Retail Activity Book Case Study

Client: The National Wallace Monument

Stirling’s famous landmark stands above the fields where William Wallace led his troops to victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. It tells the story of the patriot and martyr who became Scotland’s national hero. The monument is open to visitors all year round with lots to see and do. You can climb the monument’s 246-step, spiral staircase and explore The Hall of Arms, The Hall of Heroes and The Royal Chamber to discover the remarkable story of Sir William Wallace. Once you reach the top of the 220-ft tower, you will experience breathtaking views in all directions.

Design brief

The team at The National Wallace Monument were looking for a children’s activity book to engage children with the history of William Wallace. They required a resource to teach family visitors about the significance of the monument and site.

We created

An A5, 16-page children’s activity book. Our in-house illustrator, Chris, created a series of illustrations of William Wallace, from a young boy, his victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge and the consequences he suffered at the end of his dramatic life. This educational book is brought to life with fun illustrations, created with funny asides to make some of the difficult content more child-friendly, whilst remaining factual and accurate.

The retail activity book starts with Wallace’s early life and takes the reader on a journey through to the monument opening. There is a lot of learning and activities designed to help questioning young minds to enjoy an important part of Scotland’s history.

Inside children are encouraged to design their own coat of arms, counting swords to complete the Wallace Sword fact file and a warrior word search. There’s plenty to keep kids entertained, as they learn more about the story of Scotland’s national hero, Sir William Wallace.

You can also read more about William Wallace and other Scottish heroes in our Scottish Heroes history book.

Who was William Wallace?

William Wallace was a Scottish knight and freedom fighter who became a symbol of national resistance against the English rule in the 13th century.

Little is known about the real William Wallace, but he more than likely had prior military experience, his personal seal suggesting that he may have been an archer.

The first act known to be committed by Wallace in the Wars of Independence was in May 1297 when Wallace assassinated William Heselrig, the Sheriff of Lanark. He then joined the Scottish rebellion against King Edward I, who had invaded and occupied Scotland.

He led a small army of guerrilla fighters and won a stunning victory against a much larger English force at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297. He was then appointed as the Guardian of Scotland and led a raid into northern England. However, he suffered a crushing defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in 1298, where the English used their superior cavalry and archers to overwhelm his infantry. He resigned as Guardian and went into hiding.

He was captured by the English in 1305, after being betrayed by a Scottish noble. He was taken to London, where he was put on a show trial and found guilty of treason and other crimes. He was brutally executed, being hanged, drawn and quartered. His severed head was displayed on London Bridge and his limbs were sent to different parts of Scotland as a warning to others. He became a martyr and a legend for the Scottish people, who continued to fight for their independence.

How can a bespoke retail book benefit your site?