The Story Box is a monthly children’s book subscription. They offer three subscription options: Board Books Package (children ages 0 - 2 1/2 years), Picture Book Package (children ages 2 1/2 - 6 years), and the Family Package (for multiple children in various age ranges).
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 Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
This review is of the Picture Book, $19.99 a month, box.
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
ACTIVE DEAL: Save $5 off your first box!
CODE: READ
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: U.S.
Check out all of our The Story Box reviews and the Book Subscription Box Directory!
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Ollie and Claire by Tiifany Strelitz Haber - Value $16.99 (no longer in print)
This is like the picture book form of that song that goes, “if you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain…” by Rupert Holmes. Same theme of posting an ad looking for someone to share adventures and finding the person you’ve known all along. Ollie and Claire are best friends but always go about the same humdrum routine. Unbeknownst to Claire, Ollie posts an ad in town looking for a travel partner and Claire reads it and decides she wants to travel and get out of her boring rut. They’re both surprised and very happy when they discover who has written and responded to the ad and take off with each other. This book was adorable and I’m such a huge Matthew Cordell fan who did the lovely illustrations!
The parent guide concept we used with this title was the preschool activity to discuss our daily morning schedule and draw it with pictures, then label it with text.
Elephant’s Story by Tracey Campbell Pearson - Value $9.57 on Amazon (retail price $17.99)
Gracie has a favorite book and Elephant sniffs the words right off the pages. He asks some of his animal friends for help getting the words back on the pages, but nobody is able to help him. Fortunately, Gracie is able to make Elephant sneeze and put the words back in order to tell the story once again. This was a cute, but sparse tale. Nothing grabbed us enough to want to do repeated readings.
The Parent Guide concept I used this month with my daughter was for toddlers and was a ton of fun. We practiced writing her letters in chocolate pudding smeared on a cookie sheet. This is an old teacher trick I had forgotten about and I appreciate The Story Box for reminding me of this fun and tactile way to practice learning.
Verdict: The Story Box’s value this month was over $25 (using Amazon and retail pricing since one book is no longer available unless purchased used) which is above the cost of the box ($19.99 and free shipping). We especially enjoyed Ollie and Claire this month and we also enjoyed the extension activities from our Parent Guide. The Story Box consistently finds lesser known titles I haven’t read before and I find that to be personally valuable.
What do you think of this month’s The Story Box?
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