Grandma's Book of the Month Club: A New Family Tradition

About 10 years ago, when my brother's first child was born, I decided that I wanted to send a book to him each month. They live in another state and I wanted to be an influence on his life. Our family has no living grandparents or great-grandparents for these littles, and I wanted him to have a taste of what it would be like if his Grandma Jean was still with us.

I chose some of my favorites, and loved reading them with him whenever I would visit. Then my youngest brother had his first child, and she joined Aunt Carrie's Book of the Month Club as well. Then came 2 more nieces who could enjoy all of the well-loved books Aunt Carrie sent to Utah. (Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!)

I had such fun choosing books that I thought they would enjoy and read over and over again. In fact, I enjoyed myself so much that I decided to start Grandma's Book of the Month Club when my Little Gingersnap was born.

She lives even further from me than my nieces and nephew do, and it hurt my grandma heart to think of not being able to see her as much as I would like, but with Grandma's Book of the Month Club, I feel like a little part of me is with her every single day as she reads and rereads the books I've selected especially for her.

I admit that Grandma sends more than one book a month and I may even take multiple books when I go to visit Sweet Lovey. I like to wrap them up and label them by month so she and Mom and Dad can enjoy opening them throughout the month or open them all at the beginning of the month, whatever they want to do.

Miss Betty has quite a collection of books now, and she is following in her father's reading footsteps.

^ One of her FAVORITES! A few weeks ago, her mama turned the pages while I recited the book from memory over the phone - that's how often we read this story!

I learned pretty quickly to purchase board books rather than standard hardcovers or paperbacks. She loves her books and they get toddler-handled. Every once in a while, I find a book I cannot resist that isn't a board book, but her parents are teaching her well about caring for special books :)

When I started this tradition, I created a Wish List on Amazon titled, what else, Grandma's Book of the Month Club. When I see or hear about a book that I want to share with Queen B, I add it to the list. 

When the holidays roll around, I do an Amazon search for board books about that holiday and check them out. I prefer to add books to my list that allow me to preview the inside pages so that I can tell whether or not the story and illustrations will be engaging for a little one.

She loves animals, so many of the books I buy for her feature animals, but I also include books about colors, numbers, shapes, old classics, and newer soon-to-be classics.

We are a family of readers, so books are often our go-to gifts. We created a shared Google Doc that we add titles to as we purchase books for Miss B to avoid duplicates.

Here are a few of the books from our Grandma's Book of the Month Club. Be sure to check these out and if you order via these links or the link at the top right of the blog, I might get a small commission, so your purchases via this website are much appreciated.

Notice that The Itsy Bitsy Leprechaun (Bottom row) is on sale right now for $2.62!

Do you have any book recommendations I can add to my Wish List? Please comment below - I love getting recommends from other book lovers!