KinderBooks German Book Exchange for Kids USA

As a mother who speaks the minority language with my children I know how hard it can be to try to find books in your native language abroad. That’s why I was excited to hear from Beatrice Beckmann who has recently launched KinderBooks for German speaking families in the USA. Kinderbooks is a unique service offering a rental service of German books for kids. If you are based in the USA and are looking for German books for your child, KinderBooks could be the solution you are looking for.

What is KinderBooks?

Imagine having children’s books in German delivered to your door on demand. Being able to use them with your kids for as long as you like, and then return them when you are ready for the next delivery. No need to research popular books or where to buy them. No need to wonder whether your child will even like the books, because if not, you get to give them back. This is what KinderBooks offer.

It is a like a library, but with door to door service.

Kinderbooks aims to provide easy access to children’s books in German to families in the US. To help you to expand your child’s German skills and vocabulary, and help them learn about the world, while you have fun reading together.

Beatrice Beckmann, founder of Kinder Books

Beatrice is a multilingual, multicultural mother with a passion for reading. Born in the UK to Italian/German parents, and raised in Germany, Beatrice is now living in NYC with her American husband and two year old son. Speaking four languages herself, Beatrice is raising her son to be bilingual.

I asked Beatrice a few questions about KinderBooks which she was kind enough to answer over our email exchange:

How did you come up with the idea of Kinder Books?

My mother had often told me, that it wasn’t always easy to make us speak English. There were phases I went through when I wanted to have a “German” mom like everyone else, and refused to talk to her in English. I wanted my son to grow up bilingually without these challenges.

Worried that it would be even harder, as I am the only one speaking German, I started reading about raising bilingual children when I was pregnant. Apart from various other advice, I learned that reading and a constant flow of resources in the minority language are very important. However, I found it was fairly expensive to get books online in the US.

It was also frustrating to buy picture books without being able to take a look at them. There are a ton of books out there, but many are a little boring or mediocre. I realized others had a similar problem and so I decided to found KinderBooks, a library for German books.

How can KinderBooks benefit families compared with buying German books online?

KinderBooks helps parents save time and money, and also space (a huge factor in NYC), while making sure the children get a constant exposure to new and exciting books. It is cheaper than buying German books.

Also, the selection is curated. So, all you need to do, is tell us the age and interests, and possibly language level of your children, and we will pick books (classics, bestsellers or award-winning titles) that fit.

Rather than wasting time online looking for the right book, discovering your child isn’t interested in it, and see it collect dust on the shelf, we select for you. If it’s not a big hit with your child, you’ll get a new and different one next month. If you (or your child) want to pick yourself, that is possible, too, of course.

The idea is to get the children excited about receiving new books each month.

What is your vision for Kinder Books in the Future?

I only launched KinderBooks a few months ago, so there is a lot of room for growing. At the moment most of my clients are in New York, but we would like to be a service throughout the US. We would like to  cooperate with German/bilingual schools and promote the pleasure of reading in general with various initiatives in the long run, such as chats with German authors, or German book clubs or German poetry slams.

German Books Rental Service for Kids

KinderBooks  offer modern classics from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, new releases, bestsellers and unusual favourites in fiction and non-fiction.

The service is really easy. You sign up and pay for a monthly subscription, noting your child’s interest and preferences. KinderBooks will send you a selection of German books for your children.

When you are ready for a change, simply send the books back in their postage paid packages, and KinderBooks will then send you a new selection of books. There are no delivery fees or late fees, and you can keep the books as long as you like.

If you are raising bilingual kids in the US and are searching for German books, make sure you take a look at the KinderBooks website or follow them on Facebook for more information.