Pint-Sized Bookworms (PSB), a children’s literature outfit dedicated to promoting a love for reading in children, has recently launched the PSB Book Box, a powerful tool for nurturing the love of books in children.
PSB founder, Ugochinyelu Anidi, is a lawyer and a lecturer at the University of Nigeria, an avid reader of literature for children, a writer, and a member of the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). She talks to Connect Nigeria about the Book Box.
CN: Why did you decide to launch a kids’ books subscription box?
The primary reason was to help parents buy the right books (age-appropriate, fun and educational) for their children.
I know that a lot of parents want to buy books for their children but have neither the time nor the know-how to find and select the right books for their kids. I know this because PSB started out as a children’s books review blog and lots of times, I got messages from parents asking me to recommend or sell books to them. The Book Box was born to meet this need. PSB is not a bookstore, we don’t sell books; we sell a reading experience. Our boxes contain several items (not just books) which altogether create a total fun and informative reading experience for children.
Our goal is to make reading fun (yet educational) for children, and to help parents build libraries for their kids on a budget. Our book boxes start at N5,000. If parents commit to buying a N5000 box every month, at the end of a year, they would have built a library of approximately 40 books for their kids.
Our book boxes make perfect birthday, baby shower and graduation gifts.
CN: How does it work; what do parents have to do to get started?
It’s a themed monthly subscription box. Every month, we have a theme and the contents of the boxes (the books, activity sheets, craft projects, free gift items, etc.) are tied to the theme. Age groups we cater to are Babies (0-2), Beginning Readers (3-5), Early Readers (6-8), and Readers (8/9+).
Typically, parents place orders for a new month a week before the month starts, and the boxes ship in the first week of the month. We have a limited number of boxes for each age group every month, and so we work on a first come first served basis.
To get started,
- Send a message: Parents simply send a message letting us know their child’s name, age and gender, their preferred category and package, physical and email addresses and a phone number. Using this information, we create an invoice and send to the parent.
- Make payment.
- The box is delivered to the address provided. Orders within Lagos are processed and delivered within two business days of receipt of payment. For orders outside Lagos, we ask parents to allow two business days for processing and three business days for delivery.
CN: Are the subscriptions monthly or annual, and what are the rates like?
It’s a monthly subscription service.
NEW BOOKS: N5,000 (3 books) and N10,000 (6-7 books)
USED BOOKS: N5,000 (7 books)
We also offer discounts for 3months subscription and 6months subscriptions at 5% and 7% respectively.
CN: What criteria do you use for book selection?
We read ALL the books before recommending and we make sure that they are
- Age-appropriate: considering the reader’s emotional and intellectual growth level. We would look at the Illustrations, size of text, number of pages, etc.
- Fun: will stimulate the mind and imagination, something children will likely want to read over and over again.
- Educational: will inform our readers (in a fun way) about our theme for the month. Each box has one piece of non-fiction.
CN: What else can children expect to find in their PSB book boxes?
Besides two to three age-appropriate books, each box contains one free gift item, an activity book or some activity sheets and something for the parent: usually discount vouchers from family friendly vendors. For the older kids (from age 3 and up) we include discussion questions and a reading log). Some months, we also include crafts projects, etc. Last month, for example, we had an under the sea paper plate craft project (materials for the project were included in the box) and sheet music for the ‘Under the Sea’ song from Disney’s
The Little Mermaid. This month, we have simple and easy up-cycle projects to make with empty cereal boxes. Our theme for the month is
“Save the Planet”.
CN: Which locations do you serve?
We started with Lagos but by the second week, our clientele had expanded. Right now, we offer nationwide delivery.
CONTACT DETAILS
Phone: 07015563821 or Whatsapp: 07033103548
Email: pintsizedbookworms@gmail.com
Twitter: PSBookworms
Facebook: Pintsized Bookworms Nigeria
Instagram: @pintsizedbookworms
Website: https://pintsizedbookworms.wordpress.com
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This article was first published on 11th July 2018 and updated on July 26th, 2018 at 2:43 pm
jehonwa
Joy Ehonwa is an editor and a writer who is passionate about relationships and personal development. She runs Pinpoint Creatives, a proofreading, editing, transcription and ghostwriting service.
Email: pinpointcreatives [at] yahoo.com
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