The Book of You: A record of childhood by Ruth Sturdy

I created Colour Chronicles from my kitchen in Clapham. My daughter had just turned 3 and I wanted a way to record the big proud-parent milestones and the funny little moments. I also wanted a way to capture life from her point of view, with questions for her to answer as well as me. I wanted a book that wouldn’t assume we were a certain type of family and that didn’t feel judgemental. I couldn’t find what I wanted out there, so I made it. I thought other families would benefit, so I made it a business and put it out in the world. My daughter is 7 now and filling in our Book of You is an essential part of our annual birthday ritual. We love looking back on the year together and hearing how her memories compare to mine. But even more than that I love hearing how other families – families of all kinds – use Colour Chronicles’ books to capture their memories, celebrate their stories, and get closer.” I believe in celebrating every family – single parents, same sex parents, adoptive parents, bonus parents and blended families. Family members who are gay or straight, trans or cis, able-bodied, disabled and neuro-diverse and I wanted my books to be inclusive, without any triggers. Following the most incredible feedback for The Book of You, I launched The Baby Book of You as a judgement free baby book for the first year which makes no assumptions on developmental milestones that can often cause anxiety for new parents. I wanted to keep an element of fun with the prompts and have it as a book that was easy to fill in whilst capturing all the memories that you would want to be remembered. In 2021 The Book of Me & You was launched as a fill-in-together adult/child memory book. It can be any adult/child relationship and builds in to a lasting treasury of a life story and is a wonderful way to connect. I have lots of ideas for other books but no plans to launch any more any time soon!