The story of Children's Book of the Month Club goes back to 1952, when America's first book club dedicated entirely to children's literature was established under the patronage of then all-important Book-of-the-Month Club, and denominated Young Readers of America. Fast-forward several decades to this day and the club is still alive and kicking, albeit with a different name and as part of a different company. One thing, however, has not changed all this time: its main goal of helping the parents instill a love of reading in their children.
The club relies on a tried and trusted operational procedure for book clubs: an enticing introductory offer is combined with an obligation to buy a certain amount of books within a certain amount of time at a discounted price, and spiced with an attractive catalog that helps the members wade through the plethora of reading choices.
Let's review how this works in practice.
Like all book clubs joined under the patronage of Bookspan, the largest book club association in America, Children's Book of the Month Club features two different selections. Initial selection is intended for prospective members: it is available for everyone to search through and browse. This is where you choose your 8 introductory books from. Member selection expands on this inaugural library significantly, and is accessible to active members only.
Initial Selection
To potential members, CBOMC offers an extensive assortment of high quality books for children of all ages: from today's most exciting new choices you can find on popular bestseller lists, via classical evergreens you might remember from your own childhood, to educational books which will help your child learn how to read and write, acquire basic skills with numbers, get acquainted with momentous historical events, learn about biblical heroes, get introduced to the world of science – all in a fun and accessible way.
Books are organized into subjects based on children's age. Each subject has several sub-categories such as Award Winners and Classics, Bedtime Stories, Picture Books, Board Books, Favorite Characters, Values & Virtues...
Basic Concept and Skillbuilders is a section where you can find board books, picture books and flaps which will help your baby or toddler (age 0-2 and 2-4) learn concepts like counting to ten or cleaning their room or teach them about simple objects, shapes, numbers, letters...
For pre-school children (4-6) Early Reading category is available containing some really marvelous illustrated books which will ease your child into the world of reading. School kids, all the way up to pre-teens, will enjoy some additional sections not unlike those at adult book clubs: Fiction and Non-Fiction, Series-Fiction, Learning & Workbooks, Reference, Science & Nature.
Children's Book of the Month also features a Parenting section, which contains books that are targeted at parents rather than children; it's a very helpful resource for anyone taking care of a child, with books that offer advice on a plethora of issues such as nutrition and health, behavior and discipline, crafts and activities, tips on how to communicate with your child better, how to help it with home work and so on.
All the books you can find at CBOMC are of highest quality: this is the only children's book club with the editorial resources of the renowned Book-of-the-Month Club behind them, which in itself is enough of a guarantee.
Member Selection
Once you become a member you will have a much wider selection of books to choose from. CBOMC members have access to all the books carried by other Bookspan clubs (over 70,000 titles), including Book-of-the-Month Club (for a bit more "literary" selection), Doubleday Book Club, The Literary Guild, One Spirit Book Club (spiritual and inspirational books), The Good Cook, Science Fiction Book Club, Rhapsody (romance books), Mystery Guild, Black Expressions (books by, for and about African Americans), History Book Club and many others. Note that all the same rules apply to these books (a purchase counts toward member's commitment obligation etc).
Joining
Joining Children's Book of the Month Club is quite easy: it takes only a few minutes and can be done on the club web site. Not even a credit card is necessary. To each new member CBOMC extends a great introductory offer: 8 books of your choice for $2. Simply start shopping and add eight books to your cart. When done, you will be taken to a page where you can review the contents of your shopping cart. At this point you can still remove an item if you change your mind and continue shopping for another one. You are also offered an opportunity to buy one or two more books for a special price of $4.99 (look in the upper right corner) and thus reduce your commitment right away. It's a pretty cool offer, so you might want to take it.
At the next stage you will need to enter your personal information, which includes your name, shipping address and e-mail address. Phone number is optional. That done, you will be prompted to choose your billing method. You can either pay by credit card, or select the “Bill Me” option in which case you will be sent an invoice to the address you provided on the previous page.
The last step requires you to set up a password which you'll need to access the members only area. Setting up the password will also confirm your membership. And that's it. You're in.
Modus Operandi
Membership at CBOMC implies the obligation to buy five more books at the club's discounted prices within two years. As a member you will receive a free catalog approximately once every 3 weeks. Each issue of the catalog features a Selection, new book chosen by the club's editorial panel as the hottest title of the moment. In addition, there will be over 100 other books for you to consider.
The catalog offers real value. There are tons of children's books being published each month, so the editors have to sift through a lot of titles to present you the ones you should consider. As an additional help, each Selection is accommodated to your child's age and the shipment is always addressed to your child. This last bit is something CBOMC will not fail to inform you about every chance they get, and admittedly, it is a nice feature – although it can also be viewed as a clever marketing trick; kids just love getting their own mail and, once they get hooked on it, will probably be expecting it (and badger you about it) way more often than you'd like. On the other hand, surely there are worse things than a child eagerly awaiting a book in the mail – it's probably why you're thinking of joining this club in the first place.
The current Featured Selection will be sent to you (or to your child, more accurately) automatically, unless you tell the club otherwise. You can do so online, via the club web site, or by returning the Member Reply Form (included with the Magazine) through regular mail. This practice is known as “negative option” or “advance consent” marketing and it has been utilized by book clubs such as CBOMC for more than eight decades. Some people consider it a nuisance, a relic of the past, others find it convenient.
While we are inclined to agree with the former group, in all fairness it needs to be said that these days the hassle really is reduced to a minimum: it's just a matter of logging in to your account on the club's official web site, selecting the “Featured Selections” tab and clicking on the “Don't Send” button. And that's it. You're done. It only takes a minute or so of your time once every three weeks. The important thing is not to forget to do it, and the club will even assist you in the matter by sending you a reminder e-mail before the Selection is shipped.
Finally, if you do happen to forget to cancel the Selection, you can always send it back if you really don't want it. You won't even have to pay for the return postage so long as the package was not open.
Managing Your Account Online
In this respect Children's Book of the Month deserves much plaudit: the web site makes it easy and convenient to manage every aspect of your membership online. You can view detailed order and payment history; check the account balance, remaining commitment, and the shipping status of all recent orders; respond to the current Featured Selection or view older Selections; change your billing and shipping address and other personal details including payment method; choose shipping method, and, of course, browse or search CBOMC's entire library and place orders.
You might also want to participate in the club's online community, where you can share your own book reviews and recommendations with other club members. This is also the place to find exclusive interviews, read profiles of your favorite authors and excerpts from their latest books.
Once your commitment is fulfilled, you are free to cancel your membership. The process, not surprisingly, is a trifle more difficult than joining. You don't have an option to simply close your account online, but instead have to send an e-mail to CBOMC's customer service, or a written cancellation request to the Member Service Center. A bit of a complication, in our opinion not entirely necessary. But then, perhaps we are being too finicky here. It is, after all, just one simple e-mail.
It goes without saying that you will always be welcome back should you decide to rejoin. You can do so simply by visiting the club web site and enrolling again, as described earlier in this review. However, there might be an even better way to do it. If you don't cancel your e-mail subscription as well, you are likely to receive periodic invitations to rejoin the club; usually there is a special offer attached to such an invitation, and these offers are often even more advantageous than the standard one available on the web site (lower commitment, for example).
From the great introductory offer, via club discounts to various special offers, savings are undoubtedly one of the best things about Children's Book of the Month Club and for many probably the #1 reason to join. This being such an important subject, we have put together a separate page with detailed information on it and a real-world example.
Shipping Rates
A word or two on shipping charges as they are somewhat complicated. With the initial order the cost is $5.74 for the first book and $1.99 for each additional book. Somewhat high, but we suspect this goes some way toward recouping the loss CBOMC has to be generating by giving you first 6 books for practically nothing. With subsequent orders the charges are $3.99 for the first book and $2.49 for others. If your total order exceeds $25, the club will charge you $2.49 flat shipping rate for the whole package.
Free shipping would have been better; it certainly has a nicer ring to it, plus all decent online book shops are offering it. That said, with online retailers not each and every item is usually eligible for free shipping, so you might end up having to pay for it anyway. Children's BOMC, on the other hand, will ship you everything you put in your basket for $2.49 as long as the total of your order exceeds $25. So, all things considered, this is not a bad deal.
For credit card orders, Express Delivery is available. Express orders incur an additional $5.99 per shipment. State sales tax will be added if shipped to NY, PA, IN, TX, TN, NJ, or SC.
Payment
Children's Book of the Month Club gives you an option to pay by credit card (Visa, MasterCard, American Express), or be billed later. If you choose to pay by credit card, you will be charged when your order ships. Otherwise, the bill will arrive with the shipment and you can settle it either by using your credit card, or by sending in money order or check.
In order for this to work, the club grants you a certain amount of credit. Each time you pay on time, your credit increases, up to a maximum of $500. Note that you might be charged a late fee (approximately $4), if your bill is not settled on time. However, this fee can usually be removed by giving a call to customer support and explaining why the payment is late.
Billing methods are part of your profile and you can add or change your preferred method as you like. You will also have a chance to change the method during the checkout process. If you don't, the method specified the last time you ordered from the site will be used.
It's never too early (or too late, for that matter) to steer your child toward books and learning, and Children's Book of the Month Club is certainly a great place to get started. You get first eight books for next to nothing, up to 50% discount on all subsequent books you purchase, plus a shiny magazine in your mail every three weeks or so with highly relevant children's book reviews and recommendations.
Since you are not required to part with any money up front, joining is completely devoid of risk. If for whatever reason you don't like the introductory package, or if you simply change your mind, just return the package to Children's BOMC within 20 days and that's that. No strings attached.
The only real downside to the whole deal is the somewhat awkward business model the club employs, which requires you to take action if you don't want to take action – that is, buy the proposed book (negative option). In our opinion, however, just getting a free magazine with recommendations on what to read outweighs this inconvenience.
Good thing is, even if you feel the practice is an absolute deal breaker, you can still take advantage of the incredible introductory offer of 8 books for $2 if it tickles your fancy. How? Join, take care of the commitment at once and cancel. You can walk away with up to 13 high quality children's books for $70-75, and that includes shipping charges. Hardly a deal you will find anywhere else.
