FAQs
What is Book and Bear?
Book and Bear is the only Kids' Book Subscription Box with a Plush Animal Friend to build.
What's Inside a Book and Bear Box?
Book and Bear boxes are specially curated to delight children with fun and educational books, the pride of building their own plush animal, and a little extra surprise gift or activity.
Past boxes include: April - Lion stuffing kit (with animal, fluff, adoption papers and heart), a Picture Book, Library Lion, with a Lion Craft and Coloring Pages.
May - Kangaroo Stuffing kit (with animal, fluff, adoption papers, and heart), a Picture Book, I Love It When You Smile, a joey kangaroo finger puppet, and kangaroo coloring page.
What age is best for Book and Bear?
Book and Bear boxes are not approved for children under age 3, due to small parts. For littles, please check out our Baby Box.
Our Picture Book and Bear boxes are perfect for Children ages 3-7. Picture books are a wonderful way to start a habit of reading aloud to younger children. Stories with colorful pictures spark imagination and build language skills.
Our Chapter Book and Bear Boxes are for children ages 8 and above who are reading well on their own, or for children as young as 5 or 6 who enjoy listening to stories. If your child is under 8, and not ready for chapter books, but seems to be outgrowing picture books, this is also a good option. Research suggests that reading aloud to a child from a chapter book aids in brain development. Their young minds will listen to the story and imagine what the descriptions and actions must look like, expanding their thinking skills and understanding. And those larger words are a gold mine for questions and finding out how to look things up in a dictionary, too.
If you child is under 3 years old, we provide a Book and Bear Baby box that comes with baby-safe pre-stuffed animals and board books. You'll find the Baby Box here: https://bookandbear.com/products/book-and-bear-baby-subscription-box
Are Book and Bear boxes for girls or boys?
We work hard to make our monthly boxes gender neutral, since most children love animals regardless of gender. Reading books is known to help humans understand and empathize with other humans and with animals. Main characters in our books are often boys and girls solving problems together.
Occasionally we may have a box that is more typically skewed to one gender, but we usually make these boxes special editions outside our featured monthly selection.
How do subscriptions work?
When you subscribe to Book and Bear, you'll open for your child a world of fun and learning like no other. In most cases, your first box will arrive at your doorstep within a week. We ship One-time boxes and Special Edition boxes within 2 business days.
When you subscribe, we do our best to send you the box of that month. But if we have already sold out of that month's box, you will be notified that your next shipment will be delayed until our next featured boxes go out on the 4th of the following month. At this point you are free to choose any of our Special Edition or One-time Past Boxes as your first box, so you won't need to wait another month before you receive a Book and Bear box.
Your payment card will be charged on the same day you signed up the next month (about 30 days after your order) and you will be guaranteed our next Featured Book and Bear box, which will ship on the 4th of the month or within 2 days of your renewal date (for renewals between the 5th and 14th).
Thereafter, you will be charged on the same day of each month until you cancel. To cancel, pause, or change the renewal date of your subscription, log in to your account on BookandBear.com and manage your account. Any problems? Email us for help at: contact@bookandbear.com
How do you ship?
We use either USPS or UPS to deliver your Book and Bear box. We choose according to the best price we can find to keep costs down for our large boxes. If you are on the West Coast, you will more likely receive your box via USPS, and on the East Coast, UPS. USPS Priority mail takes 2-3 days for most packages, and UPS takes 4-5 days for most packages. All boxes receive tracking numbers by email.
Do you ship Internationally?
NOW SHIPPING TO CANADA! Shipping for Canadian customers does not include free shipping. Please be aware that Canada charges VAT taxes for many orders when they are received. Book and Bear is not responsible for any additional charges levied by the Canadian postal service to their customers.
Please leave 1-3 weeks shipping time for international orders.
What if something goes wrong?
Once in a while something goes wrong on our end. If you ever have trouble with any of the items in your box, please email us so we can fix the problem. For instance, we once sent a customer the wrong book. She alerted us to the mistake, and we sent her the correct book. We do our best to inspect and make all our boxes accurate, but we are only human and occasionally do make a mistake. We will always do whatever we can to make it right for you. We are aware that even though we are the only subscription box with an animal to build, you have plenty of choices in book subscription boxes, and we are very grateful that you have chosen Book and Bear! Our Club Members' personal satisfaction and happiness are very important to us.
Why have I not received any order confirmation details?
Most times this is because our customers have typed too quickly and accidentally entered their email information incorrectly. Throughout the process, we send 2-3 emails, including an order confirmation, a fulfillment notice, and a shipping notice. If you have not received any of these notices after checking your spam or junk mail boxes, please contact us with your correct email address and we will fix it for you. Be sure to "whitelist" contact@bookandbear.com so you will be sure to receive shipping notifications.
What is your refund policy?
It's hard to imagine, but Book and Bear is not for everyone. If your child is under 3 years old, please wait to subscribe to our picture book box until your child reaches their 3rd birthday. Why? Children under 3 tend to put things in their mouths, or like to unstuff their stuffed animals, and aren't quite ready for picture books with tear-able pages. Plus, our animals mostly have realistic button eyes and noses, which are not safe for young children who may bite the eyes and detach them and swallow them.
If you are unhappy with your box for any other reason, please email us so we can make it right for you. We do not issue refunds for boxes that have already shipped. You can, however, cancel your subscription anytime before your next renewal date and not receive the next box. Once we have shipped a box, it's yours to keep or give as a gift. If there is something wrong with one element in the box, take photos and send them to us via email. In most cases we will be able to replace the damaged item.
How do I stuff the plush animal? Is there any sewing?
Our plush animals are easy to stuff, with no sewing, and even young children can mostly build them on their own. Instructions are provided on the back of the package of fluff, and by video on our Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/hg7qLvWBwKg
Animals close with a zip tie or zipper inside the animal's back. Pull the tie to secure the fluff inside and cut off the excess, then tear off the protective fabric strip over most animals' Velcro opening, and squeeze the Velcro shut. No sewing required! If your box comes with a sound box (Lion, Husky) add the box outside the zipper but inside the Velcro. That way, when you go to clean your stuffy, you can easily remove the sound box before cleaning.
Please note that most animals will arrive with their heads pre-stuffed. You will mostly stuff limbs, tails and bodies. If your animal's head seems a little askew, just move the fluff around in its head, and add a little more fluff to make it just the way you'd like.
How do I contact you?
If you have any questions that are not on this FAQ page, please use the chat button on the website, OR please email us at contact@bookandbear.com and we will reply as soon as possible.
Facebook: https://facebook.com/bookandbearbox
Email: contact@bookandbear.com
Toll-Free Phone: 855-BKNBEAR