The Story Box is a monthly children’s book subscription, offering board, picture or a family package options. This review is for the picture book box.
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
What I find unique about The Story Box is that the boxes are curated by a speech pathologist and the included parent guide (or tip card for board books) give language activities and hands-on activities that go along with each story. The picture book parent guide is divided into three age ranges (toddlers, preschoolers and early elementary) so you can pick which language concepts best match your child’s age and ability. My son just finished preschool so we worked on those language concepts while we read the books this month. As my son gets older when we revisit the books we can then move on to the activities for early elementary school.
The Subscription Box: The Story Box
The Cost: $14.99 a month for board books, and $19.99 a month for picture books and $17.99 a month for the Family Package (board and picture books) + free shipping. Discounts available for longer-term subscription commitments.
COUPON: Use code READ to save $5 off your first box!
The Products: 2 board books, 2 picture books or 1 board book and 1 picture book with the Family Package and a parent guide or tip card.
Ships to: US for free!
Check out the Book Subscription Box Directory and make sure to add The Story Box to your subscription list or wishlist!
Hattie Peck by Emma Levey - $13.55 on Amazon (retail price: $16.99)
Hattie Peck is a book about following your dreams and practicing perseverance. Hattie is a hen who loves eggs but can’t seem to lay her own. So she goes off in search of any eggs she can find and is determined to hatch and raise them. We enjoyed this story and the illustrations too. The parent guide for Hattie Peck suggested focusing on the different settings in the story (ocean, mountains, cave, etc.) and discussing with your child how these places differ. We did this and my son was able to give quite a few differences, but he struggled with naming things you’d find in a cave or on a mountain. This is a skill we can work on in the future.
My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson - $14.64 on Amazon (retail price: $16.99)
My Shadow is really a classic poem that they turned into a picture book. It was very descriptive and filled with opposites as the boy is followed by his ever-changing shadow. This poem had many rhyming words and for this story I focused on the language concepts for early elementary aged children with my son. The parent guide suggested identifying rhyming words which my son was able to do. They also suggested coming up with additional words that would rhyme as a story extension which was a lot of silly fun.
Verdict: As a teacher I really love the educational spin on The Story Box. I review numerous children’s book subscriptions and we have been enjoying them all, but what sets this one apart is the thoughtful parent guide with easy to do activities that really take the books to another level. I read to my children every day but sometimes I forget to take a few moments and use our shared reading as a teachable moment to delve further into the text. These ideas in the parent guide are so approachable and help build vital language skills. The value of this box was more than $28 which I am very happy with as well. Great job, The Story Box, I can’t wait to see next month’s selections!
What do you think of this month’s The Story Box?
Please do not enter your email address in the Name field or in the comment content. Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *. Remember to post with kindness and respect. Comments with offensive language, cruelness to others, etc will not be approved. See our full comment policy here.