Zoobean, a searchable platform for curated children's books, launches today. Cofounders and husband and wife team Felix Lloyd and Jordan Bookey are also announcing a funding round led by Kapor Capital, managed by Mitch Kapor of Lotus and Mozilla.
Lloyd, Bookey and a team of 10 curators have handpicked, catalogued and tagged 1,300 books for children ranging from ages two to eleven. To be included on Zoobean, Bookey explains, a book should be "one you want your kids to read to their kids—one you want to continue to keep in your library."
The idea for Zoobean came about when Lloyd and Bookey wanted to help their son get ready for the arrival of a new sibling. When they searched for an appropriate book to reflect their multiracial family, they came up empty.
The site allows parents, teachers and caregivers to search for books related to a specific situation, such as when you lose a pet or a special person. But it also works in a proactive way. "You can search for books on self-confidence or self-esteem," Bookey says, "qualities you are trying to stimulate in your kid."
Registered Zoobean users can recommend books and like book profiles, although Lloyd stresses that the site is not necessarily about fostering relationships among readers. "Keyword, A to Z catalog sites are a noisy world," he explains. "We are into curating books instead. When a book is suggested to us, we'll curate, vet, add it to the site, and let [the person who submitted it] know where it is in the queue."
For most of the books in its system, Zoobean points potential buyers to affiliate sites like Amazon. But Zoobean has created a subscriber model. For $14.95 per month, Lloyd and Bookey will send a curated title from the Love Collection (a Best of the Best group) to subscribers, along with free reading guides and reading activities. Subscribers can also order other Love Collection books and receive free shipping. Proceeds from sales of subscriptions will benefit youth literacy nonprofit organizations.
Lloyd and Bookey are planning to bring a developer on full-time in the near future. They hope to expand Zoobean, based in 1776, to include toys and games in addition to books.