AD – This is a collaborative post
Does your child love phonics and reading? If your child is an early or emerging reader and the books sent from school just aren’t enough, or is a reluctant reader who needs a little extra encouragement, a Reading Chest Book Subscription can be a great way to expand their vocabulary and introduce them to a wide range of fiction and non fiction titles.
It’s no secret that we are huge book lovers in this house. As an avid reader myself, I now have two daughters who have really really enjoyed learning to read and reading for pleasure. My youngest in particular (aged six) loves learning about the world around her through informative non-fiction books, or escaping into an imaginary world of magic and adventure through a variety of children’s fiction titles.
Throughout our children’s reading journey, we’ve noticed that whilst there are lots of children’s titles, our local libraries don’t always have a great selection of books for early readers – books where we could be confident that their phonics skills and language development will be supported in a way that matches the school curriculum.
Neve is rapidly approaching the phonics test at the end of Year 1, so when Reading Chest got in touch to see if we wanted to review the book subscription, it felt like it was meant to be! You can read our full Reading Chest review below.
What is Reading Chest?
Reading Chest is a book subscription service for children aged 4-9 years. This could be those who are just at the start of their reading journey, or fluent readers who are rapidly reading through the books supplied by school and want to supplement their reading.
We have previously found it hard to buy or borrow books from the library that properly match our child’s reading ability. The phonics based books provided by Reading Chest are designed to support the school book lending library, with a choice of books from recognised book schemes including Alphakids, Oxford Reading Tree, Bug Club and many more. This means you can pick books from your child’s exact reading level and move them up at the same pace as their in-school experience.
How does Reading Chest work?
You start by choosing your subscription package. There are three different subscription models to choose from (Bronze, Silver and Gold) depending on how many children you have, how many books you want to receive initially and how many swaps you want to make each month.
The Bronze package is ideal for families with one child and allows two swaps each month. The Silver and Gold packages can be split between two children (even if they are of differing reading ability), The Silver package allows up to four swaps a month, where as Gold offers unlimited swaps – ideal for those mini bookworms!
We opted for a Silver package which we split between the two girls – both of whom are different ages and as such have a different level of reading ability.
How much does it cost?
Prices start at £11.95 month for Bronze, £19.95 a month for Silver or £24.95 a month for Gold.
How do you ensure the books are the right level for your child?
When you sign up, you are asked to advise your child’s current reading level from the recognised national curriculum. If you are unsure, you can find this out by looking at what colour the spines are on the books sent home from school, or asking their teacher. Reading Chest also have some helpful sample pages on their site if you want to test some reading and see which level your child can read without too much difficulty.
What kind of books do you get?
Once you’ve selected your child’s reading level., you can can opt to receive Fiction books, Non-Fiction books or both, before selecting from a wide choice of recognised reading schemes. Unless your child is homeschooled, you may wish to unselect the scheme which is used at your child’s school, as this will prevent you from getting duplicates in your Reading Chest subscription.
We wanted to have a good variety of books for our Reading Chest review, so ticked all the options, including all schemes and a combination of both fiction and non-fiction reads.
Whilst we loved the surprise element (Neve loved ripping open the envelope when she received her swap), you can also login to see what books are coming up in each scheme. You can add books to a favourites list if they look appealing, or book bin if they don’t meet your preferences. If you favourite a book, it will be prioritised next time you do your swap.
What do you get at the start?
When you receive your first Reading Chest delivery, you get a number of extras including your first batch of books.
First up is a drawstring Reading Chest bag in red, which is a great way to store the books to keep them safe. We have on occasion lost library books around the house, so this was a welcome addition for peace of mind, knowing I could always find the books amongst our own collection.
Next was a large progress poster and sticker sheet, allowing your child to pop on a star every time they’ve read a book. Neve loved this so much as she finds reward charts incredibly motivating. Once your child has read 20 books or has moved up a book band, you can even apply online for a certificate to recognise their progress. How cute!
Neve also loved the little bookmark included in the pack – something to mark her progress during those longer, more extended reads.
How do the returns work?
When your child has completed their books, you simply post them back to Reading Chest in the pre paid envelope provided. This then returns the books to Reading Chest who will pack up and send out your replacements. Our replacements came incredibly quickly and addressed directly to the kids, it’s exciting to get their very own post too,
It’s worth noting that you can keep the books as long as you like, so the number of swaps each month for your package is a maximum. If your child is particularly enjoying a book, you can hold on to it and read it multiple times.
Reading Chest – Our Experience
Overall, we’ve had a really positive experience with Reading Chest. I was really impressed with the variety of books available and how they mirrored the style of books received from school – even with the questions on the last page to check comprehension and understanding.
I love that the scheme can be tailored around your child’s needs and preferences, and it is super easy to change the reading level on your personal dashboard as your child progresses.
Posting back is quick and easy (although sometimes the envelope had to be folded slightly to fit) and we received our swaps far more quickly than I expected.
I feel Reading Chest is excellent value for money, especially the silver or gold packages where you can share the programme between two siblings. As a mother of two, this met our needs really well.
Is there anything I’d change about it? Not really. My eldest daughter is now 10, so falls outside the scope of Reading Chest. Perhaps it would be great to see some titles for 10-12 year olds that include some kind of comprehension, inference or writing exercises at the end, as this would be a great way to support their english skills at home.
You can learn more about Reading Chest and their range of book subscription packages on their website here.
