Each plan covers a set number of readers: Sprout covers 2 and Grove covers 4. An extra reader is room for one more child on the plan you already have. It costs $4.99 a month, or $49.90 a year if you pay yearly, and it adds 5 books to your monthly allowance.
How many you can add
| What | Sprout | Grove |
|---|---|---|
| Readers the plan covers | 2 | 4 |
| Extra readers you can add | 1 | Up to 4 |
| Most readers in all | 3 | 8 |
Sprout takes only one extra reader, so a fourth child means moving to Grove. Once Sprout has its extra reader, the card offers "Change to Grove" instead of "Add a reader". Grove with every extra reader is the most a family plan can have.
On a yearly plan, extra readers are paid for yearly too, at the same saving as the plan. A family with no plan can have 1 reader and needs to choose a plan before adding room for more.
Adding an extra reader
- Open Plan and books and find the card called "Extra readers".
- Press "Add a reader".
- The sheet "Add room for another reader?" tells you how many readers your plan will cover and what will be charged. Press the button that starts "Add a reader for" to go ahead, or "Not now".
- Add your child from Readers > "Add a reader". Add your first reader walks through the form.
What is charged:
- Monthly plan: what is left of this month is charged to your card today, and the books for the rest of the month are added straight away.
- Yearly plan: what is left of this year is charged today, and the books for the rest of this month are added straight away.
- During your free days: nothing is charged. The extra reader is part of your trial, and from the day the trial ends it is added to your plan. Your trial books stay at 2.
If your card is declined, nothing changes and you are asked to update your card with "Manage your plan" and try again.
When adding is not possible
When you cannot add one, the page tells you why:
- A payment has not gone through: "Your last payment did not go through. Once your card is updated, you can add a reader." See When a payment does not go through.
- Your plan is set to end: "Your plan is set to end, so no readers can be added to it."
- A group pays for your plan, or we gave it to you: extra readers are not sold on these plans, so the card is not shown. Once you have as many readers as the plan covers, the "Add a reader" page asks you to write to us if you need room for more. See Plans paid by a group, or given by us.
- Buying is paused while we look into a payment: "Nothing new can be bought while we look into a question about a payment." If one of us paused buying for another reason, "Add a reader" is still there, and the sheet shows the pause notice when you confirm. See When buying is paused on your account.
- Extra readers are paused for everyone for a while: the sheet shows "Extra readers are not available right now. Please try again later." when you confirm.
Removing an extra reader
You can remove an extra reader whenever it is not needed, including while a payment is failing or buying is paused.
- Open Plan and books and find "Extra readers".
- Press "Remove one".
- The sheet "Remove an extra reader?" says how many readers your plan will then cover. Press "Remove one" to confirm.
What happens to the money:
- Monthly plan: this month is already paid for, so its books stay and nothing is refunded. The charge stops from your next bill.
- Yearly plan: the books already added this month stay, and the months after this one are credited to your next bill.
- During your free days: nothing has been charged for the extra reader, so removing it just means it is not added to your plan when the free days end. The sheet and the message afterwards use the paid-plan wording above, but nothing has been paid and nothing is credited.
You cannot remove a place a child is using. If every extra place is taken, the card says "Every extra place is in use. To remove one, remove a reader first." Remove a reader explains how; a removed reader frees their place straight away.
Changing plan when you have extra readers
Once you pay for an extra reader, plan changes happen inside Plan and books rather than on our payment provider's page, and your extra readers are carried across only as far as you still need them. Change your plan has the details. When a plan ends, its extra readers end with it.
If something about your readers or what you were charged does not look right, write to us from Help in your dashboard and choose "A payment, a plan or a refund".