My First Reading Club July & August

My children love getting mail, especially when that mail happens to be a box of books. I won't complain no matter how many rooms we fill with books, because books serve a purpose. They are unlike toys that will be outgrown or games that will get boring. Books inspire creativity, imagination, confidence, and the earlier your child begins to read, the better they do in school. So I will never get tired of books. 

We've been pretty busy with vacation and my son's recently birthday party, that I realized I hadn't got to reveal July's My First Reading Club box. By the time I was available to post about it, the new one for August arrived. So this post is a little different in that it features two month's boxes at once. It actually ended up working out for me this way, because I am able to compare the months for you and give a little more feedback seeing them side by side. 

Rain for weeks on end doesn't allow for great picture lighting. 

Each month we have received 4 books, usually one features a popular character and/or is an activity book of some kind, while the others are picture story books curated for my son's reading level along with a mommy gift. Now, my son just turned 5, but he's already reading and has been since he was 2 1/2 - 3 years old. I know this is hard for most to believe, but it's true and we get asked about it all the time. For instance at restaurants when the waitress catches my son reading the menu out loud and nearly has a heart attack at how smart he is. So I chose our book box based on my son's reading level and not his age. He's still very much interested in the books that come in the box, and they make great bedtime stories. 

July's box included a Wallykazam paint/coloring book, along with three story books. One of those three was a really cool facts book, which we absolutely love because my kids really seem to have a thirst for knowledge and learning new things. The mommy gift was a little bottle of hand cream and a lip balm. MFRC liked to feature mommy owned and operated companies for their mommy gift. I mean, that makes sense, right? 

August's box didn't get the same reaction as our previous boxes, if I'm being honest. They started to send out a newsletter in the boxes and it stated that the co-owner is also the curator. I'm not sure if that's a change from previous month's or not, but it included a photo of him and a tiny write up. It's nice to see who's behind a company and who's behind what goes into your subscription boxes. I like that. This month, however, only had three books. Not a huge deal, but the 4 books is what made it different from the other children's book boxes, which generally only send 2 books per box, plus it made the value of the box far outweigh the price. Three books still outweighs the price, don't get me wrong, but after months of 4 books, my kiddos wondered this month if they actually forgot one, and I wondered if they were going to dwindle the boxes down. Quantity aside, The three books are really nice books. The character one is a double sided Frozen book with stickers. Here's another "however", The frozen book wasn't really fit for my son and was a little too young for my 10 year old daughter. The Boy and the Whale also didn't seem like it was my son's reading level either, and while it's a great story, my son isn't interested in Hockey, so it doesn't hold his attention. They did send two mommy gifts again this month! A nice bar of soap and.....

more lotion.

I am trying so hard not to be negative here, but I've received boxes since April, so 5 months, and in 4 of the 5 months, the mommy gift was lotion. Okay, cool. I just don't think I need that much variety of lotions.  This month's box was a bit of a downer, but you know, it's just one month. Maybe next month will be better. We've love all the other boxes up to this point, and it's still not a complete dud, because we have items that can be donated this month, which will still bring us joy.