Are Children's Book Clubs
A Good Value?

Or can I do better?

Let's start by making sure we have our terms straight. By children's book clubs do you mean a discount buying service where you receive catalogs regularly and books arrive through the mail?

Or are you talking about a place where children meet to compare the merits of The Cat in the Hat with those of The Cat in the Hat Comes Back? A reading group.

On this page, we're going to focus on the children's book buying kind of book club. If you're interested in a reading group for your child, I recommend contacting your local library.

As for online reading groups for children, I've yet to find anything that impresses me. On the other hand, if you want to give your child the experience of writing a book report or review, you can do so right on this site!

Children's Book Clubs - the hype

Book clubs have been around forever, along with record clubs and the like.

They lure you in with a bunch of free (or ridiculously cheap) children's books, but you have to sign up to get them. You get them all right (you usually pay the shipping and handling though), but now you have to follow the book club rules.

If you follow the rules closely, you can get some new children's books cheap. If you don't pay good attention, however...

Books you didn't want at prices you didn't want to pay start showing up at your house.

Children's book clubs - Required purchases

You see, by accepting the initial books for free or a ridiculously low price you agree to buy a certain number more at the "special" children's book club prices, over a certain amount of time.

No biggie. The hassle though is you have to keep telling the club that you don't want a particular book or books. While you hold out for the books you want, they keep mailing you (and charging you for) the special "book(s) of the month" unless you tell them not to!

As my daughter said when she was three, "Please can I don't have a bath?"

"Please can you don't send me that book?"

If you're up for the hassle...

...children's book clubs can be a reasonably good deal. Also, all of the clubs - by law, I believe - offer the opportunity to back out of the deal after you receive the first shipment. If you're not satisfied you pay nothing. Some of them even allow you to keep most of the initial books.

So let's go over the various clubs.

Children's Book of the Month Club

This is probably the most famous. They start you off (currently) with 8 books for 2 bucks. (Not mentioning, unless you look real hard, the amount of the shipping and handling.) Their "Little Wonders" book club is for kids 0-6. "Book Planet" is for older kids.

I count 668 available titles for the younger kids, 414 for the older.

Not great. Not awful. I have a Children's Book of the Month Club page if you want more (and more current) details.

Dr. Seuss children's book clubs

These clubs are currently advertising 7 books plus a Cat in the Hat backpack for $3.99 plus shipping and handling for starters. The book club is part of Scholastic, a good outfit. But for the life of me, I can't find any real details on the program.

How many books available? Are they just Dr. Seuss books?

I feel like they're trading on the good Doctor's name, and I'd be fearful of feeling ripped off.

Nick Jr. children's book club

Named for the kids' TV network, this one is also run through Scholastic. They claim "everything your child enjoys on Nick Jr. can be found in the Nick Jr. Book Club."

Does that include commercials?

Again, I can't seem to find a list of available books. They start you off with four books - along with four other gifts - for $4.99 plus shipping and handling. If you decide against the club, you get to keep everything except for one of the books, which you have to send back, though at Scholastic's expense.

Disney children's book clubs

I'm not even going to look for details on the Disney clubs. I'm just going to beg you to stay away from them.

I'm speaking as a writer now. Most of the Disney kids' books I've seen are lousy books. They don't read like stories. They read like highlight reels of the associated Disney movie.

The pictures often depict characters from the movie that haven't even been introduced in the book!

Disney movies are great. Show 'em to your kids with my blessing. I do.

But if you read a Disney book without having seen the movie, the story often doesn't even make sense.

That's offensive. It can turn your child off of reading. Or, nearly as bad, it can turn your child into an uncritical reader.

Scholastic Book Clubs

Scholastic is a different animal. This is the huge children's book publisher with an emphasis on the educational. Their book clubs are through your child's teacher or school.

Less obligation. Less pressure. Benefits to your child's classroom. Learn more:

Scholastic Children's Book Clubs.

Children's book clubs - Summing up

I'm not recommending any of these outfits. I just found out that one of them bills you $20.82 for shipping and handling on the first big shipment.

If 8 books for 2 bucks showed up actually costing me almost 23 bucks, you better believe I'd be cancelling my membership.

There are better options.

Remember Highlights for Children?

That 44 page kids magazine? It was always in my opthamologist's office. I'd get those eye drops and then read Highlights as hard and fast as I could until it became too blurry.

Highlights for Children is still around. If you want your child to have the experience of receiving reading material (and hidden pictures and mazes, all that good stuff) in the mail, this could be the way to go.

And - are you listening to this, book clubs??? - there is no shipping and handling charge.

Now that I'll recommend. And link to.

There aren't many things left that you can tell your child you too experienced as a youngster. Highlights for Children is one of those few things.

Children's book club alternatives

Now one of the reasons I'm not recommending any book clubs is because I believe there are better ways to go about getting cheap new children's books, or even cheap used children's books, for that matter.

Please check out my discount children's books page for a ton of ideas.