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Average Subscriber RatingSo helpful and also good books
Today
Christie D.
This service made it easier for me to be a good parent - started conversations I would have otherwise put off or honor out into a context my kid could understand. Plus they’re good books! So thankful for this service and glad to have books like this that I can share with family and friends and my kids school. Can’t wait for the chapter book version!
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Wonderful Books!
May 18, 2021
Lauren W.
We love this subscription! The books are age appropriate and so unique! Excellent customer service, too.
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Lauren, thank you so much for being such a special part of the OurShelves community! Thank you for partnering with us to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves!
Kindness, Quality, and Hope
May 18, 2021
Melissa P.
My children and I receive so much joy from our OurShelves subscription, discovering artists and stories we might not otherwise have found. My children ask to read these titles over and over again. OurShelves has given us hope and connection during a difficult, isolated year. The owners and customer service team provide kind, personal service. They really care about their readers and the artists behind each book, which sets OurShelves apart from other subscription services we've tried. Just phenomenal.
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Melissa, thank you for these incredibly kind words! We love hearing about the joy, hope and connection these books have brought to your family. We also love to hear that your children ask to read the books again and again! Thank you also for your kind words about our team and our mission. We're so grateful to have members like you who join us in working toward a world in which all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves!
Diverse Literature for All!
Dec 16, 2020
Amber B.
Hello fellow Reviewers...I read ALL the reviews I can before I make a purchase, even innocuous ones, so I must pay it forward. You must subscribe to Ourshelves if you want your children to be exposed to literature you may not find in mainstream stores! So far my family has received 3 boxes and we are very satisfied. My 8 month old daughter has now been exposed to LGBTQIA, Native American, and Spanish language books. In addition to that, she is able to see herself in the characters in books we have received. We are Black and we are not often represented in books that fly off the shelf. Ourshelves makes my family and I feel mainstream. Do your family a favor and subscribe to this affordable book subscription service!!!!
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Beautiful books, great value
Apr 10, 2021
Madeleine E.
Outstanding subscription service for children's books. All new titles that our library doesn't have (yet), and nearly every one of them a winner :) Our kid comes back to these books again and again. Very fairly priced, as well. We bought a gift subscription for a friend and we expect we'll buy more soon.
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Madeleine, thank you so much for your kind words! We are thrilled to learn your child comes back to your OurShelves books again and again! And thank you so much for sharing our curated books with both your child as well as friends through gifting! Mostly, thank you for partnering with us to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves!
The BEST children's book subscription!
Apr 01, 2021
Margaret C.
My son has been receiving OurShelves boxes for a year now, and we both absolutely love them. I really appreciate how much care the curation team puts into choosing books that not only feature diverse characters and inclusive stories, but that are also always really GOOD books. We've tried other book boxes, but the hit rate for this one is so much higher, and I have really loved the conversations that we have about the books we read. With this last box, I switched from a 3-book box to a 5-book box because we have loved everything we've received so far, and we were not disappointed. My son has insisted on reading all 5 books every night since we got them. The other day he came home from school with a creation he had made that he said was "the wrap that Sis wears in "Bedtime Bonnet."" He insisted on wearing it while we got ready for bed. And every time we read "I Am Every Good Thing" he asks me to tell him what "worthy to be loved" means. Even if your child, like mine, has no problem finding books with characters that look like him or families that look like his in them, there is enormous value in this subscription. It is helping prompt the kinds of conversations that I want to have with my child but don't always know how to start, and helping him grow into a thoughtful, curious, and...
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Wow, thank you so much for sharing the role OurShelves books have played in your family and why diverse books matter to you and your son! We love hearing how these books are resonating with your son. We are grateful to have such a dedicated and thoughtful Curation Team who review and select the books for our boxes. And we're so glad to hear you're loving our book selections as much as we do! Thank you so much for partnering with us to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves! We're so glad you're part of our community!
Stunningly Awesome!
Mar 29, 2021
Andrew B.
I never find the time to post reviews, frankly. It's a rare product that will make me excited or disappointed enough to motivate me to actually do it. But OurShelves is more than awesome enough to motivate me.
Families are so much more diverse in real life than in the (current) world of children's literature. Kids deserve to grow up seeing themselves and their loving families reflected in the stories they love. Conversely, the more a story reflects the diverse world they really live in, the more likely they are to love it, and learn great lessons from it. Moreover, I want my kids to grow up *expecting* their world to always be a diverse, loving place. This OurShelves subscription is going to make that job so much easier.
We've received one box, and my kids are already in love with the books (ny youngest even tells me, in a somewhat surprised tone, that I do a good voice for the penguins who feature in one of our stories). One of the titles was such a joy to read I got a little choked up reading it the first time (I was glad I read it once by myself so I didn't cry during bedtime!) What's so very clear is that the staff who run OurShelves are very, very in tune with their customers. When you sign up, you're encouraged to reach out and let them know if there's anything in particular you'd like to share about your family, so...
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Wow, thank you so much for sharing why you signed up for OurShelves and how your OurShelves books -- and the conversations and possibilities they bring -- matter to you and your children. We would also love to hear your penguin voice:). Thank you so much for sharing so beautifully why we all do this work together. Thank you for being part of our community -- we're so glad you're here. And thank you for partnering with us to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves!
The best book subscription!
Mar 29, 2021
Amanda K.
We love OurShelves so much that it’s become our go-to gift for anyone with kids. Thoughtfully curated books, with a wide cast of characters and varying levels of identity as the main theme, that are MY favorite to read as well as the kids.’
My rhyme & fact-obsessed 7yo loves My Mommy, My Mama, My Brother, and Me. My anxious 8yo must have requested Saturday every night for at least two months, and it totally helped him process things not going to expectation, and my 5yo still sleeps with The Bread Pet. And of course we had to resume keeping a sourdough starter and baking bread on the regular.
We’ll be customers until we age out—but we hope you keep adding levels so that never happens!
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Amanda, thank you for this incredibly special feedback! There's nothing better than thinking about each of your kids enjoying their OurShelves books in their own very special ways. Thank you so much for sharing OurShelves-curated books with your own children and other children through gifting as well. And yes, we do hope to grow our book offerings to reach older aged children as well - stay tuned! Mostly, thank you for partnering with us to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves! We're so grateful you're part of our community!
Bedtime Bonnet, OurShelves
Mar 19, 2021
Kristina M.
This subscription has been really great for our family. We have several favorites from prior months, and we love our new book Bedtime Bonnet! My 4 year old son has been trying desperately all week to recite the Grandpa’s joke about sticky hair and honeycomb :) It was a great story for our white two-mom family to talk about things that are the same and different between our family and routines, and those in the book. I’m really enjoying your book selections and the representation and conversations they bring into our home. Thank you!
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Kristina, I love thinking of your four-year-old sharing the Grandpa's joke! This is such a fun book, isn't it? And stay tuned -- author Nancy Redd made a video for us that we'll be releasing soon! Thank you for these very kind words and this feedback that is exactly why we do what we do! Thank you for partnering with us to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves! We're so glad you're part of our community!
We love OurShelves!
Mar 15, 2021
Mikaela B.
We love OurShelves! I have a 4yo and a 1yo and their customer service was so helpful when I reached out about combining books from the different age groups. They had a solution for me and both of my kids are able to get books that work for them.
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Mikaela, we are so glad that both your one-year-old and four-year-old are enjoying their OurShelves books! We're also so glad to hear that you felt appreciated and cared for in your interactions with our company -- our members like you mean the world to us! Thanks for working with us to ensure all kinds and all families have a place on OurShelves!
We love OurShelves!
Feb 18, 2021
Sarah L.
We still really love our subscription--after years of receiving books! We talk about social justice issues a lot in house and your books give us great areas to explore further. But I also love that so many of the books you include are just beautiful stories with beautiful characters—that aren’t experiencing oppression rather just finding joy in the world. I think this does so much to really set the tone for the roles that BIPOC and LGBTQ folks play in the world now and in the future. I also love that the books you send aren’t just the well known best sellers—those are great too—but they are books I wouldn’t easily find on my own.
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Sarah, thank you for describing so wonderfully how we try to feature all different kinds of kids and families in all different kinds of stories! We're so grateful you're a member of our community! Thank you for your wonderful support!
Best subscription by far
Feb 14, 2021
Tallulah R.
We love these books. In fact, this is the only subscription that I am keeping. Last year I signed up for you guys and then two other book subscriptions for my daughter and your subscription is the only one that every delivery has had high-quality books that she loves and I didn’t know about already.
I was a professional caregiver for over a decade before having my daughter so finding a children’s book subscription that is of such a good quality and are unique/novel has been really remarkable.
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Thank you so much! These kind words mean so much coming from you as a parent and professional caregiver! We're so glad to have you in our community! Thanks for your wonderful support of diverse children's books!
Our family loves Our Shelves!
Jan 13, 2021
Elizabeth J.
My family has subscribed to OurShelves book boxes for more than a year, and we recommend this subscription to other families regularly. My mom got a subscription for my nephew for Christmas, and she too was very impressed! You won't be disappointed!
As a parent who seeks out diverse children's books on my own, I am consistently impressed by the range and quality of the books in my Our Shelves box each quarter. They are much better than what I find on my own (both high quality printing, but even more importantly for me, wonderfully targeted at my son's age and understanding). Even during the shipping chaos of 2020, Our Shelves stayed in communication with subscribers and delivered books throughout the year like normal.
I also appreciate supporting a subscription that helps to make the case to publishers that there are lots of families who want to see greater diversity in children's picture books. We really do exist, and Our Shelves helps to make the case that there is a market for racial, gender, sexual orientation, cultural, disability, and other forms of diversity.
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Elizabeth, wow! Thank you so much for these incredibly kind words and for so beautifully describing what we're trying to do with our OurShelves dual mission. We both curate high-quality diverse children's books as well as advocate to the publishing industry for the many more diverse books needed -- including by proving just how many of us there are who are seeking these books! Thank you also for your kind words about 2020. Our members like you have been such incredible supporters during a very challenging year for all of us. We are so grateful to have someone like you in our community! Thanks for being an incredible partner working to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves!
I’m so grateful for OurShelves!!
Jan 13, 2021
Jenny P.
Friends of ours subscribed and suggested we might like to as well. OurShelves has exactly the books we want to read our 10 month old child: books that reflect a diversity of ways of being in the world and highlight people and life choices less often reflected in mainstream literature. We are overjoyed to read a book that celebrates Pride, a book that shows kids of all backgrounds and abilities playing with toys (contrary to gendered stereotypes), and a book about Native joy. Finally, books I *want* to read to my baby. Easiest and best purchase I’ve made for my child all year.
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Jenny, thank you so much for these kind words and your wonderful support! We're so glad you're loving your OurShelves books and that you feel they're helpful in affirming your family's values! Thanks for partnering with us to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves!
Love it
Jan 11, 2021
Alissa W.
What a great organization. I love that OurShelves makes books with diverse characters available to children and families while also demonstrating to publishers etc that there is demand for these stories! I have a subscription for my son and have also gifted OurShelves boxes to children of friends.
Beautiful stories. Would recommend without hesitation.
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Alissa, thank you so much for your wonderful support of OurShelves and for so wonderfully capturing our dual mission! Thank you for proactively bringing OurShelves diverse books into your home and also sharing them with others as well! We are grateful to partner with you in this work!
Love it!
Dec 27, 2020
Salanna R.
We have received 3 boxes so far and loved all of them! We have the board book subscription and some of the books have become my daughter’s favorites. There have been some that we already own, so we have saved those for gifts for friends.
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My go-to new baby gift!
Mar 13, 2021
Emily M.
This is my go to for new baby gifts. My new parent friends have loved the quality, beauty, and world of stories, families, and experiences these Our Shelves boxes open up for their new additions.
My own children are slightly older, and through Our Shelves we have discovered so many new authors, titles, and stories. The book selection is superb.
Emily, we are so glad to hear that you're loving our book selection! We have an incredible Curation Team deeply committed to thoughtfully reviewing and then selecting the books. We are so glad that both you and your new parent friends are loving OurShelves books! Thank you for your partnership in ensuring all kids and all families having a place on OurShelves!
Love OurShelves!
Feb 25, 2021
Ro M.
Brilliant service! Can't recommend highly enough. Not only a great concept, but I've had customer service that goes far above and beyond what I would have expected. Do yourself and your kids a favor and subscribe to OurShelves.
Ro, thank you for these kind words! They mean so much to us as we work to ensure all kids and all families have a place on OurShelves! Thank you for being part of our community -- we're so glad you're here!
Great gift idea
Jan 15, 2021
Abigail R.
Finally books that represent our family! Our daughter is so excited to see two moms in her books. We love that the characters teach our daughter about the diversity of the world around us. Living in a rural, white state it is hard to teach and introduce your child to the differences that there are. We absolutely love the curated boxes that OurShelves provides. Looking forward to the next box.
Abigail, thank you so much for these kind words! We are so glad that you're loving your OurShelves books! As the founder of OurShelves and as a parent who also has kids with two moms, I can relate to how special it feels to finally show a book to our kids that affirms our family type, as well as so many other kinds of kids and families! Thank you again for joining our community -- we're so glad you're here!
Great for Children
Dec 22, 2020
Faith P.
I love this subscription service. I work for a school system, and we have been working hard to showcase diversity with our book selections. Ourshelves makes it so easy. The owner has personally worked with me to ensure that I am getting the books that meet the needs for my students. This is a wonderful company to support.
Delighted customer
Jun 10, 2020
Alison D.
We could not be more thrilled with this subscription. Customer service responded to us right away : we have kids aged 1-9 in our house and they quickly built us a custom box with books for all three age groups. Our first box included a bilingual book, several books featuring main characters who are black or children of color, a book featuring a LGTB family and a board book about PRIDE. Our kids LOVED the books and wanted to read them over and over. They are already asking when the next box will arrive. We wish there was a monthly option : we would sign up right away !
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We are so thrilled that you and your children loved our book selections! We also love to hear that you'd like to receive our boxes even more frequently -- an option we are considering offering in the future! Thanks for being such a special member of the OurShelves community committed to ensuring ALL kids and ALL families have a place on OurShelves!
So much fun to receive!
Dec 09, 2020
Brady J.
We love OurShelves! We get a mixed box every quarter...one book for my 6 year old, one for my 4 year old, one for our baby. It's of course always fun for the kids to receive mail, and we almost always sit down and read all 3 right away. I also love how OurShelves are simply GOOD STORIES that happen to have underrepresented protagonists and side characters in them. I really think I see a difference in my kids' behavior after reading them. For example, we just got a book called *Clive and His Babies* (about a little boy who loves to push two baby dolls around). Since reading it, I see my 18 month old and my 4 year old have been seeking out baby dolls to play with. Highly, highly recommend this either for your own family, for a personal gift, or even for a gift to a local or school library.
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Brady, we're so glad your 6 year old, 4 year old, and 18 month old are all loving your OurShelves books! Thanks for sharing that great example about CLIVE AND HIS BABIES, one of our favorite books! It shouldn't be so rare to find a book about a boy who takes good care of his dolls. We're thankful to know about this British publisher that creates these books that age-appropriately challenge traditional gender norms. Thanks for your wonderful support of diverse children's books! We're so glad you're part of our community and enjoying your OurShelves books!
Big Fan, for Myself & My Daughter!
Dec 02, 2020
Quincy E.
Only good things to say about OurShelves! There couldn't be a better mission, and I love that I learn new things from the books you send my daughter too. Your book subscription doesn't just make me a better mom for building a diverse bookshelf and teaching my daughter about how the world looks outside our family—it makes me a better person as well.
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Quincy, thanks so much for these kind words! We, the grown-ups of OurShelves, completely agree with you -- our book selections are also impactful to us as grown-ups too! Thank you again for your wonderful support of diverse children's books and OurShelves!
Perfect gift for a school!
Nov 20, 2020
Sahra S.
This is an amazing service! I got an annual subscription for my child's preschool last year and they tell me all the time how amazing the books are. Just renewed for another year and honestly I can't imagine any better gift for a school!
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Sahra, thank you so much for sharing OurShelves diverse children's books with your child's preschool! We love that they are loving your gift of OurShelves books! We're so glad that you and your child's preschool are part of the OurShelves community!
You need this subscription!
Nov 16, 2020
Katie K.
We now have beautiful, engaging books with diverse representation of all types of kids and families delivered every quarter. OurShelves is influencing the publishing industry, which is no mean feat, and they’re doing it in the most positive way possible. More books that are inclusive on every level now exist because of them.
My kids picked a book OurShelves sent one night when my folks were babysitting...they aren’t just opening conversations for kids; my kids taught their grandparents about gender identity. It’s a beautiful thing.
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Katie, thank you for these incredibly kind and supportive words! We love hearing that your OurShelves books are being enjoyed by three generations in your home! Thank you also for sharing that we both deliver curated and high-quality diverse children's books and that we're also advocating for the many more diverse books still needed. That dual mission is very important to us. We are so grateful to have such incredible members like you in our community!