FAQ
Our members are as young as newborns for whom we’re building a library, to adults who wish to experience the great classics of childhood that they may have missed. As a testament to our success, the majority of our members remain with the book club into their late teens. Incidentally, several children currently enrolled in the club are second-generation members!
No. Your Reader’s membership is completely personalized. We hand-select books for each individual member based on his or her age, reading level, and interests, and then we add a big dash of Stuart Brent bookselling experience. Each of our members is different; what may be appropriate for and of interest to, a particular Reader, may not be right at all for another, so we don't limit ourselves to just a few standard books. You could say that our "catalog" is the whole of literature!
Yes, it happens. Sometimes a member will need/want to return a book to us. Contact us and we'll be happy to help you with your return.
Pricing is determined by the number of Readers in a given Household, and by the Club level you’ve chosen. For specifics on pricing, please go to the Pricing Page. Questions? Contact us or call Amy at the Book Club, and we’ll be glad to clarify any questions you might have.
Yes, assuming they live together in one household. We ship all the Readers in a Household at the same time. The books are clearly labeled with the Reader’s names, so there should not be any confusion. Shipping together saves on costs, but it also serves another important function. Many of the children in the Book Club are young, and sometimes it’s hard for a young child to watch a sibling open a gift when there’s none for him or her. So to prevent hard feelings, we (as booksellers, but especially as parents ourselves), prefer to ship all the gifts together. Then everyone is happy! Kids are happy, parents are happy, we’re happy! The Book Club is meant to be fun for all!!
Part of the reason there isn’t a sample list is because each membership is geared for the individual child and family. Some people wish to build a long lasting library for a baby, with books going up to the chapter book length. Some want only classics, and some prefer only age appropriate books. So what makes sense for one family doesn’t necessarily work for another.
A sample library for a baby might include:
- Goodnight Moon
- Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?
- Jamberry
- Where the Wild Things Are
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes
These are just a few books you’d expect to see in a baby’s library. After these, there are some spectacular books we’d love to include. Those are the books we would send.
Again, call the book club. Sometimes it helps to talk it out, to try to figure out why a particular Reader doesn’t like to read. Usually, it’s because something isn’t quite clicking. We have several approaches to this problem. We’ll be happy to chat!
We’re always happy to honor special requests. In essence, your Reader can pick her own books if she likes. Any book she sees at the library, bookstore, school, a friend’s house, you name it, we can get it for her. Just let us know. We are available by phone toll free 888-742-3207, via email, service@stuartbrent.com, or via your parent account. Additionally, we assume the Book Club isn’t your Reader’s only source of reading material. She’s likely to be selecting books on her own at the library and the bookstore. At Stuart Brent, we draw upon decades of experience to send wonderful, unusual books that members and their families aren’t likely to discover on their own.
We love these great Readers! If you’re lucky enough to have such an excellent Reader, we suggest calling the book club to discuss your Reader’s talents. We’ve been finding superb books for very talented Readers for decades. Remember, this is our job. Realistically, it seems unlikely that even an excellent young Reader has actually read everything. We have successfully found books for the children of MacArthur Genius grant recipients, NYTimes best selling authors, even a couple of Nobel Prize winners. Call us! We love a challenge!!
There is no contract with CBC. You start when you wish and end when you wish. To enroll in CBC you can enroll online, or call us toll-free at 1-888-742-3207. Upon enrolling, you automatically create your own private account. To cancel the book club, you just login to your account. Before you cancel, however, please give us a call, 888-742-3207, and perhaps there is something we can do to make your experience better.
With Stuart Brent, you’re in control! Your subscription will go until you cancel Cancelling is easy- just go to your private, password protected account and follow the prompts.
This is a question we get all the time. The answer is a little complicated. Here’s how it works: after your payment clears, the Book Fairies of Stuart Brent roll up their sleeves and get to work. Before anything is shipped to your Reader, we review everything we have about that particular Reader. If we have questions, we will reach out to the adults on the account. (This happens all the time). When we’re picking for you, we disregard every other Reader in the Book Club. We do not do mass mailings. After we’ve thought and discussed (sometimes argued a bit) among ourselves, we settle on a selection. If we have the books in stock, they go right to the Wrapping Fairies. If not, we order what we think are the best books we can find. This sometimes causes a delay. What we do promise is that the books will leave the Book Club in the month you’ve selected to be shipped.
» IMPORTANT EXTRA INFORMATION «
» If you’re enrolling for Christmas, we will do our level best to be sure that your gift arrives in time for the holiday. If you enroll very close to the 25th, it may require some special shipping, but WE WILL GET YOUR PACKAGE OUT.
»If you’re enrolling for another holiday, birthday, or special occasion, and you need your gift to arrive by a certain date, please call the Book Club 888-742-3207 to alert us.
»The Book Club is a totally personalized service. It takes an enormous amount of time to start a new Reader. If you’re in a hurry, please let us know!! We want you and your Reader to be happy!!
The short answer is: it’s magic! The long answer is: we’ve been doing this a very long time. We begin by listening to you. You tell us about your Reader’s abilities and preferences, and then we add decades of experience charming Readers of all ages and abilities from all over the world, plus an encyclopedic knowledge of children’s literature, to reach a selection that we hope will enchant your Reader. If we miss the mark, just let us know. We may need to hone our choices for you. If so, we will send replacement books on us.
This does happen from time to time. When it does, please let us know and we’ll be glad to replace the book. It’s important for you to know that we seldom send very well known books. Unless requested, we don’t send Harry Potter books, Dr. Seuss books, or other sort of “household” name books. In general, people seek out Stuart Brent for the lesser known marvels. If there’s a book we think would be perfect for your Reader, but it’s likely he/she has it, we will reach out to the adult connected to the account to ask. If, despite our best efforts, it does happen, please reach out to the Book Club and we will work it out. We wouldn’t have second generation members if we couldn’t find enough books to make people happy!
We make most of the gift wrapping ourselves from recycled paper. Most of that can be reused or recycled. Of course, we think a book is a perfect example of a smart use of resources. The book you’re enjoying can be passed around almost infinitely! After all, think of all the books published hundreds of years ago that are still in existence, and ready to be read again!
If our shipper delivers there, we send it! Please call the Book Club for rates. We have Book Club members all over the world. Some countries represented are:
- Great Britain
- Japan
- Thailand
- Australia
- Argentina
- Guam
- Spain