Member Spotlight: Sandra Gifts Mega Box to Her Child's Classroom

We recently interviewed Sandra, a very special OurShelves member, about purchasing OurShelves-curated books for both her home (through our quarterly subscription service) as well as for her child’s classroom library (through a 30-book Mega Box purchase)!

Check out our subscriptions and Mega Boxes for your home, school, and community!

How did you learn about OurShelves, and what made you subscribe?

"I think I must have been searching on Instagram, and an ad popped up! And I thought, 'This is exactly what I want!' I have 3 kids ages 6 and under. I went to the website and especially loved how thoughtful the curation was."

"We were in an area for some time that was not very diverse and where the school did not talk about these things very much. I felt like I needed to supplement at home, but it also felt very overwhelming to think about how to curate which books to have at home because there was so much out there of varying quality to sift through. OurShelves was the perfect answer to the curation help I needed to grow our diverse book collection at home to cultivate our values with our three kids."


Why did you purchase a Mega Box?

"Now we're in New York City again and at a school that is much more diverse. The school library is well-curated, but my first grade son’s teacher, at the parent and curriculum night this fall, asked for help building and curating her classroom library. I had just received our most recent OurShelves book box – which was so thoughtfully curated – and saw the flier that mentioned Mega Boxes.”

“So I asked my son’s teacher if she’d like an OurShelves-curated Mega Box of diverse books. She said, ‘I would love this!’ Turns out this 30-book Mega Box was the perfect gift for my son’s teacher who was looking to grow her own classroom library!”

“And I’m now getting ready to buy another Mega Box for another special nursery teacher in our world once she returns from parental leave!”

Why do diverse books matter to you?

“I’m first generation everything. My parents immigrated to the United States. I grew up fairly poor. Reading has been such a big part of my life, and I remember not seeing these kinds of stories. I know how impactful books are, and I think about how much it would’ve meant to see myself in books. So for me this is very personal.”

“I want my kids to see all different kinds of kids in their books. And I want them to see many positive stories too, showing how big and interesting the world is, and how strong people are.”

“So I’ve asked myself, ‘Where are these stories? How do I find them? How can I support these books, authors, and illustrators?’ And OurShelves is one powerful answer to help us curate, find, and support these books!”

“I also think that no matter how much they’re getting at school, I also want to reinforce these values in their home. I love knowing that they have strong diverse books both at school and at home.”

Thanks so much to Sandra for sharing why OurShelves is a great fit for her family, home, and school!

Check out our subscriptions and Mega Boxes for your home, school, and community!