The Other BOMC

This story originally appeared in Children's Bookshelf on Apr. 20, 2006 Sign up now!

by Judith Rosen, Childrens Bookshelf -- Publishers Weekly, 4/20/2006

Just over a year ago Northshire Bookstore in Manchester Center, Vt. (PW's Bookseller of the Year) came up with a new twist on an old idea: the Book-of-the-Month Club. Customers who sign up for the Northshire Children's Book Club get a year's worth of books, 12 in all, which are mailed out once a month. The customer is billed each month when the book is shipped. Typically, customers pay between $10 and $20, with a limit of $25, for a gift-wrapped book plus shipping. READ MORE

"It's fun picking the books," says children's books buyer and department manager Jessica Wood, though she finds that sometimes prefer to select the books themselves. "It's more whimsical choosing once a month than planning for the whole year." When a customer joins the Children's Book Club, Wood sends a note to the child. Inside each month's selection is a "Lucky You!" gift card along with a thank-you postcard that the child can fill out and mail to the friend or relative who signed them up for the club.

Currently, Northshire has over three dozen Children's Book Club members, who range in age from newborn to 13. Wood divides the children into four reading levels: newborns, toddlers, young readers and middle readers. The club has been so successful that between 80 and 90% of the gift-givers have signed up for a second year, Wood says. In fact, Northshire is adapting the Children's Book Club for adult readers this fall, in time for the holiday season.