Rainbow books are mindfully and lovingly chosen by our Curation Team for children ages 2-5 years old. Enjoy these beautiful picture books with your older toddlers and preschoolers that both ignite imagination and wonder and feature diverse and traditionally under-represented characters and families.
- Enjoy picture books curated for children ages 2-5
- Affirm your values of equity, anti-racism, social justice, inclusion, love, and yes, fun, while enjoying expert-curated, high-quality children's books with your child(ren).
- Our books proudly feature racially and ethnically diverse, LGBTQ+, disabled, feminist, and other traditionally under-represented characters and families in children's books.
- Feel pride knowing you're exercising your consumer power to be counted in support of diverse children's books. OurShelves advocates for the many diverse books still needed, in part by proving the significant, yet largely under-estimated, audience for such books through our growing membership.
- Our Curation Team members who review your books share expertise from librarianship, teaching, early childhood development, psychology, racial and other identity bias, and parenting. All Curation Team members -- and their children -- share the lived experience of being under-represented in children's books.
- After your first shipment, which will ship within 5-7 business days of you placing your order, books arrive quarterly -- in March, June, September, and December.
- Free shipping.
Who will love these books?
These beautiful picture books are mindfully and lovingly chosen by our expert Curation Team for children ages 2-5 years old.
When will my box book be delivered?
Your first box will ship within 5-7 business days of placing your order. After your first box, packages will be delivered each quarter - in March, June, September, and December. You will receive a notification each time one of your boxes has shipped.
What will be inside my box?
Three-book boxes generally include two hardback books and one paperback book. Five-book boxes generally include three hardback books and two paperback books. With each three-book or five-book delivery, in addition to your books, you’ll receive a post card with discussion questions and/or a special activity idea for one of the books to keep the fun and conversation going! (During the pandemic, these special activity ideas are currently provided electronically.)
Occasionally, the paperback book will be replaced by a board book if our Curation Team loves the board book, feels it is age-appropriate for this age range, and the price of the board book is comparable to the price of a paperback book.
Why do you include paperback books?
While paperback books are often somewhat older books, we offer the combination of hardback and paperback books because there are wonderful paperback books centering under-represented characters and families that are worth cherishing. Combining hardback and paperback books also allows us to stay within the current price points.
If you would be interested in boxes with only hardback books at a higher price point, please let us know here.
Who pays for shipping?
OurShelves does - you receive FREE SHIPPING with your subscription! Shipping within the U.S. is on us. If you’re outside the U.S., please let us know by clicking here — we are exploring the best ways to ship outside the United States!
What if I have feedback to share?
Yes, please. We always welcome your feedback here.
Books previously featured
Reviews
Diverse and Fun Books
LOVED our first order from OurShelves! One of the books was already on my "want to buy" list and the other two were happy discoveries. I am so excited for more!
Expanding our family's horizons!
We couldn't have more wonderful things to say about Ourshelves. The book bundles are cultivated in a way that bring lovely and exciting stories to life for our toddler and have already helped our family navigate the nuances of real life conversations. Our ever-curious three year old is thrilled when a new box arrives and we have a brand new set of adventures to dig into together through the books featured. We've also given bundles as gifts for baby showers and birthdays knowing that not only are the titles featured thoughtful, they are also not your typical books so there is little to no concern that you're duplicating titles in anyones library. Absolutely recommend for anyone looking to help expand the books available for their family within their home or for a gift for someone that is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Perfect Subscription
We’ve had the OurShelves subscription for almost 2 years now and absolutely love it. I found it extremely difficult as a busy mom to source books featuring diverse characters and story lines that weren’t just diverse statements but rather everyday stories. For example, books like the anti-racist were great however they weren’t exactly suitable for my toddlers craving a story over a statement. OurShelves solved that problem for me and we now have such a wonderful collection of stories about different cultures and bodies and traditions, etc. This is THE box to get, you will not regret it. I cherish every single book that we’ve received. There was a little mixup on the books we had received when they switched to a new platform awhile back. It’s was not a big deal at all (they sent Bodies Are Cool twice, so like, far from a problem) but they treated it like it was with the best customer service around. I only mention it because the founder even reached out to me to apologize, which still shocks me to this day. Great books with great people behind the mission.
Best subscription ever!
I have been a subscriber of our shelves for several years. In every single box I have received, all of the book are exceptional. Not a single other subscription I have tried has had this level of quality. The stories are always wonderful and the illustrations are just as spectacular. I keep saying how much I would love if they started offering monthly deliveries.
OurShelves is a quarterly diverse book box for children.
We curate high-quality children’s books that feature racially and ethnically diverse, LGBTQ+, disabled, feminist, and other characters and families currently under-represented in kids’ books.
We advocate for the many more diverse books still needed, in part by proving the significant audience for such books through our growing membership.
How it Works
You choose the type of book box you receive every 3 months:
Sunshine Box (Ages 0-2)
Rainbow Box (Ages 2-5)
Treehouse Box (Ages 5-8)
Enjoy the peace of mind knowing that our Curation Team lives and breathes finding, and delivering to your doorstep, the very best books!
Cherish these special stories. Share them throughout your community. Also, share with us who and what types of stories are still missing on your shelves, which we can incorporate into our advocacy.
Your Subscription Matters
Our books affirm, empower, and connect.
Share our stories with your school,
or library, and as birthday, shower,
or holiday gifts.
Be counted. Publishers will create
more of these books as they understand just how many of us there are seeking these books.