Amazon Prime Book Box Review

An honest, unpaid review of Amazon Prime Book Box, a kids monthly book subscription box for kids ages 0 to 12. We’ve been using it for months now and have thoughts to share!

What is Amazon Prime Book Box?

Amazon Prime Book Box is a children’s book subscription for Amazon Prime Members. It offers four different book subscription options for kids ages 0 to 12:

Four Board Books for babies (ages 0 to 2)
2 Hardcover Picture Books (ages 3 to 5)
2 Hardcover Easy Chapter Books/Picture Books (ages 6 to 8)
2 Hardcover Middle Grade Books (ages 9 to 12, but these are also normally still great for my 13 and 14 year olds too)

It’s a flexible subscription so you can choose to have your book box delivered every month, every other month, or every three months (perfect to accommodate both your budget and your children’s reading speed). You can also easily set up separate subscriptions for multiple children and have the boxes sent addressed to your children (because everyone knows how much kids like to get mail addressed specifically for them).

Unlike other book subscriptions, the only thing that comes in the box are the books. This is great if you don’t want your kids to be distracted by the treats, toys, or trinkets that come in other subscriptions.

Pricing

The pricing for the Amazon Prime Book Box is simple: every box is $19.99, which saves you up to 40% off the list price of the books if you were to order them without the subscription. And since the subscription is only available to Amazon Prime subscribers, there’s no additional shipping cost.

If you’re already a prime member this is a great deal – it amounts to 2 hardcover books, or 4 board books, for $10 apiece (most hard cover picture books are at least $17.99 if you get them at the bookstore).

What We Love About Amazon Prime Book Box

Sample of book selections for the 9 to 12 age group

The thing I love most about the Amazon Prime Book Box is that I can preview the books before they ship and swap them out if we’ve already read them or if they don’t look interesting to the kids. They have four alternatives to choose from each month. And if you don’t like any of the books, you have the option to just skip the month.

I get an email a week before they ship reminding me to check out the books and make changes if necessary. Once I finalize our selection, they’re ready to ship. It’s all very easy!

I also love the great selection. Amazon says that they choose the books based on expert recommendations from Amazon Book Editors, customer ratings and reviews, and your member profile. They have an excellent selection of both new releases and older favorites to choose from. We’ve been very impressed with the selection and have received some really great books.

Sample of book selections for the 6 to 8 year old age group

Overall, the entire process of subscribing and then choosing books each month has been so easy. With access to libraries being trickier this past year, we’ve really enjoyed having great books delivered to our doorstep with such ease.

Our Unpaid Review : The Good and Bad

While I mostly have only good things to say, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the one big negative: it’s Amazon. It’s not like Amazon needs anymore of my money (or yours), especially when there are other small business/family owned book subscription boxes for kids out there.

If you don’t want to give Amazon any more of your dollars, I get it, and I recommend checking out my reviews of BookRoo and Kid Lit Art (picture book subscription).

What I think the Prime Book Box has going for it that other subscriptions don’t is the flexibility to preview/swap books and also the extended age range. I love the other book subscriptions for my younger kids, but the Prime box has had the best book selections for my older girls (ages 12 – 14).

Is Prime Book Box Worth It?

If you’re already an Amazon Prime subscriber, I’d say the Prime Book Box is definitely worth it!

It’s a great value for hardcover books (up to 40% off the list price)
It’s flexible – easy to cancel, easy to change how often you receive the books, and easy to preview and swap book selections
They pick excellent books and it’s a fun way to keep your kids excited about reading

You can check it out and subscribe here.