There is a website called Takatok.com that allows toddlers and tweens to write, illustrate and publish their own stories. Sharon Kan and partner Orit Zuckerman, both mothers of two, launched the site in March 2008. Membership to the web site is currently growing at more than 300% a month.

Adora Svitak is ten years old, a Tikatok member, and an internationally published author. Her first book, Flying Fingers, was written and published when she was only seven years old. She will be helping other children to use Tikatok.

The idea for the Tikatok website, named for the tick-tock sound of a clock, came to Kan while perusing the children’s book section at a Barnes & Nobles store with her daughter. The young users write their stories online then, with the help of an adult, scan or mail original artwork to Tikatok to be bound in hardcover or paperback. There is no charge for membership on Tikatok and completed books cost approximately £10 ($20) each. The author’s artwork is also archived as clip art for others to use as illustrations - the artist is notified when their work has been used.

The majority of Tikatok’s content is private to protect the minors involved. The stories visible to the public are real, but the author’s information is not.

Visit Tikatok.com - Tikatok is where kids channel their imagination into stories - and publish those stories into books for you to share and treasure with friends and family.