Owl Crate is a monthly subscription of books and bookish items box. They recently launched OwlCrate Jr., a book box for young readers ages 8-12 with a middle grade book plus fun bookish items designed to enhance your little reader’s experience.
The theme for the March 2017 OwlCrate JR. box is UNLIKELY FRIENDS!
DEAL: Use coupon code STARS10 at checkout to save 10% off your first box!
The information card tells a little bit about all the goodies in the box.
Everything in the March OwlCrate JR. box.
BeeDoo Toothless Magnetic Bookmark ($3.50) Remember Toothless? He is “the Alpha to all dragons” from How To Train Your Dragon!
This bookmark was printed on high-quality matte photo paper. It doesn’t wrinkle even if it gets wet! We are huge fans in this family!
Toothless is now happily fulfilling his duty by guarding a book page!
Craftedvan Unlikely Animal Friends Stickers – Stickers are always a win with the kids, but this sticker set is extra fun because it tickles the imagination by featuring unlikely animal pairs. Which one is your favorite?
Schylling Retro Toys Wooden Handles Skipping Rope ($4.71) An old school jump rope! It has wooden handles and a braided rope.
This is a great tool to encourage your kid to unplug and have fun outdoors.
New York Puzzle Company Harry Potter Pixie Mayhem Mini Puzzle ($9.95) A 100-piece jigsaw puzzle! The featured illustration was originally made by Marie GrandPré.
Another fun thing to do while keeping ourselves off the internet! Also you cannot go wrong with Potter.
Unlikely Friends Button Pin – Dragons and unicorns are total opposites and it’s fun seeing them in a pin!
Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly ($9.38)
Acclaimed and award-winning author Erin Entrada Kelly’s Hello, Universe is a funny and poignant neighborhood story about unexpected friendships. Told from four intertwining points of view—two boys and two girls—the novel celebrates bravery, being different, and finding your inner bayani (hero), and it’s perfect for fans of Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Thanhha Lai, and Rita Williams-Garcia.
In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his crazy-about-sports family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and she loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister, Gen, is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just stop being so different so that he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends, at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil. Sometimes four can do what one cannot. Through luck, smarts, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms. The acclaimed author of Blackbird Fly and The Land of Forgotten Girls writes with an authentic, humorous, and irresistible tween voice that will appeal to fans of Thanhha Lai and Rita Williams-Garcia.
It’s a fun read with a relatable story involving a dog and a guinea pig. There are Filipino references in the book because the author is a US immigrant from the Philippines! ??
A bookmark designed for the box was included, as well as the author’s signature on a sticker bookplate.
We also received a letter from the author herself, plus the other side of the Hello, Universe bookmark!
A peek inside the book! There are illustrations peppered throughout. I think this is great for middle grade kids – a few pictures can really help their own imaginations soar.
“It doesn’t take many words to turn your life around.” Nice quote!
We really liked the focus on diversity in a light-hearted and age-appropriate way. My kiddo was engaged with the book hasn’t finished it yet (she’s switching back and forth between Potter #6 and this one at the moment). I would say that on a reading level it was on the lower end of the target range (School Library Journal marks it at grades 3-7) but still held her interest because the story is unique. As for the theme? “Unicorns are most of the time really nice and most dragons are evil but this dragon is good. I’ve also seen some good dragons like in Shrek but I’ve never seen an evil Unicorn.”
Next month’s theme is Written in the Stars.
What did you think of this amazing Owl Crate JR. box? We thought everything was perfectly curated, just like the regular box, and wouldn’t have expected anything less.
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