FAQs
Our customized Story Finders subscription boxes are designed for independent young readers (roughly ages 7-16). Our youngest box recipients should be ready to graduate from early readers and smaller chapter books to somewhat longer novels (generally 200+ pages).
We believe your willingness to partner with us is what makes us different. We can't do this without you!
Your child is unique, so why shouldn't their subscription box be unique, too? Other companies ship the same books every month to every subscriber...that's not us. We want to get to know your child's reading tastes, their likes and dislikes, and their interests. We simply love great books, and we get so much satisfaction from sharing great books with other readers, young and old.
You're not just another box to us. You're part of our Story Finders family.
We are two moms who have four kids aged 7-13 between our two families. We have both been avid readers since childhood, so imagine our delight to find that we are now raising voracious readers! As our children got older, we realized that they were developing extensive reading vocabularies. However, just because a nine-year-old can read at a ninth-grade level doesn't mean that he should read books written at that level. We believe that the content and themes in the books our kids read should match their emotional maturity level, not outpace it.
Aside from having spent years researching great books for our own kids, we are constantly reading and recommending books to friends' children as well. Jenny is a certified teacher with 15+ years of experience teaching grades 4-10 in public, private, classical, university-model, and homeschool settings. Lori is a scientist by training and was a homeschool mom for 7 years before co-founding Story Finders.
Here's the bottom line...we know it's a huge deal to ask for your trust when it involves your kids. Simply stated, we love reading and recommending books, we love connecting with fellow readers of all ages, and we have a specific passion to provide peace of mind for parents while harnessing the power of stories to build character in children.
Great question! As part of the checkout process on our website, you will be presented with a few questions. Ideally, this survey will be completed by your young reader, because we want to get to know them. We'd ask them to give us as much information as they can...more information helps us do a better job of choosing books just for them! After the reader survey, the purchaser (typically the parent or caregiver) will have a couple questions to answer. We want to know if there are any types of content or themes that you'd specifically like us to include or avoid when possible.
That's basically it! We'll choose two books for your reader, and they should show up at your door within a few days. For subsequent months, all boxes will be shipped on the same date, e.g. the 15th of the month.
Finally, we'll check in after giving your reader enough time to read the books we sent. We are always looking for feedback on our choices: what they liked, what they didn't like, and any changes to their initial preferences as indicated in the survey.
We are constantly reading great books, reading reviews of great books, talking about books with each other, talking to kids about the books they're reading...in short, our everyday lives are largely composed of kids and books! We have a successful track record of making great recommendations for many children, and we can't wait to start choosing books for your readers, too.
Each month's box will contain two new books that have been handpicked for each specific reader. Over time, the books will be a mix of hardcover and paperback. We may occasionally throw in a small bookish surprise, but ultimately, our boxes are all about the books.
At Story Finders, we work on a monthly cycle with fixed dates for all customers. Billing takes place on the 1st of each month, and the cutoff date for each month is the 5th. All customers' boxes will routinely ship on the 12th of each month, and you'll receive a tracking email so you can know the estimated delivery date.
Example: if you place your order on August 30, you'll be billed on September 1, and your child's customized box will ship on September 12. If you order any day through September 5, your box will still ship on September 12.
However, if you miss the cutoff date and order between the 6th and 12th of any month, your first box won't be delivered until the following month. For example, an order placed on September 6th (just past the cutoff date) will not ship until October 12th. Please let us know if you need clarification on any of these details, and be sure to subscribe before the 5th of the month for fastest delivery!
No problem! Just let us know, and we'll send a replacement book right away!
We would ask that you just pass the duplicate book along to a friend or donate it to your favorite charity (we have a special place in our hearts for Little Free Libraries if you have one nearby!).
Nope! Shipping is included in the pricing of our monthly subscription boxes.
We currently do not require any commitment term with our Story Finders subscriptions. Your subscription will auto-renew each month, but you can always pause, skip, or cancel your box if needed.
We always want our Story Finders family to be pleased with our book choices, which is why we offer free replacements. We'll do everything we can to make sure you love your books!
Believe us, we want to offer this as soon as we can! For now, as we're starting out, we plan to focus our efforts on books for young readers. We'd love to hear about your desire for a customized adult book subscription...please share your interest and ideas with us here.
