Popular Book Nook Kits (As Voted by Customers)
For those unaware of the goings-on in book clubs and reading rooms, people aren’t solely flicking through pages to escape reality. They are turning to tech-free hobbies, too. The most closely related to bookish gifts is merging home decor with a love for reading. It’s done by building miniature bookshelf inserts to decorate bookshelves with imaginary worlds in the shape of a book without any spine. Just a complete work of art that brings imaginary pages to life.
Miniature hobbyists fond of reading can combine interests with book nook kits… Reading, home decor, puzzling, and art - all in one gift, which is part of what makes these great gifts for bookworms of all ages. Friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, teachers and students.
Without knowledge of the craft though, finding a quality book nook kit with the right miniature accessories to create these whimsical mini-worlds can be soul-crushing. To help weed out the best from the rest, listed below are the best kits that have people saying (mostly) good things!
5 of the Most Popular Book Nook Kits Based on Customer Ratings
1. Beyond Library Book Nook Kit
MiniCity is known for making quality book nook kits, and the Beyond Library doesn’t disappoint. On Amazon alone, it's racked up 237 ratings, 88% of which are 4 and 5 stars. For those yet to assemble a book nook kit, don’t start with this because it’s a whopping 520-piece 3D wooden puzzle. It’s best for those with experience with miniatures.
Such a hit was this that it was supersized with a miniature dollhouse version - ‘Beyond Library Max’, which has over 1,000 pieces. Not as many people have attempted that! Will you?
2. Magic World Book Nook Kit
The Magic World book nook kit is a 298-piece 3D wooden puzzle and a few places are selling this design so you can price-shop it for the best deal. The most popular brand version is Sudopor on Amazon. For this kit, it’s received a total of 63 ratings, of which 57 were 4 and 5 stars. At the Nooktales.com store, it’s received 44 reviews, all of them 5-star rated, as is the handful of customers that’s bought this from Book Nook World, too.
When the same book nook kits are being sold at several stores at different prices, check aliexpress.com. This particular model is being sold at a fraction of the cost. The only difference is the delivery time.
3. Rolife Train Station or Time Travel Book Nook Kit
Rolife's Time Travel is a 258-piece 3D puzzle of a train in a station. The design conjures mental images of the Hogwarts Express so it's likely to be popular among Harry Potter fans. The station platform is kitted out with a luggage trolley, a bench, a clock that hangs from the ceiling, and a mirror to the back of the train, creating the illusion that it carries on for longer than the eye can see.
Being a Rolife book nook kit, the Time Travel design is available from various stores. Two of the larger stores are Michaels and Amazon. This kit scores a 4.8 at Michaels based on 19 reviews and on Amazon.com, it has 58 ratings, averaging 4.6 overall.
For those interested in customizing book nook kits, have a look at the video by Karyn @ToyManTelevision to see the creative ways this kit was customized to include a working clock (replacing the wood piece) transforming it into a timepiece. Sweet!
4. Sunshine Town Book Nook Kit
Rolife’s Sunshine Town is its most popular book nook kit. The main distributor for North America is Hands Craft, US, Inc. With Sunshine Town being the most popular, you’ll find this stocked at several big box stores including Barnes & Noble, and Target. Online, it’s available at Amazon, Etsy, Aliexpress, and the official Rolife store at Robotime.com.
User feedback on Amazon alone is plentiful where it has 150 user ratings with an average rating of 4.4. Among the traits popularizing Sunshine Town is its colorful design, ease of assembly, and high-quality materials. Many of the reviews reference this as being the first kit the person has tried.
That said, of the more in-depth reviews, usually from Amazon Vine customers (which the reviewers get the item free to review), those mentioned that it's a kit for intermediate DIY'ers rather than it being a beginner-friendly kit - Likely because it's a 246-piece 3D wooden puzzle.
Something interesting about the book nook kit reviews for Sunshine Town elsewhere is that it has the most feedback on Faire.com. A marketplace for businesses to buy wholesale, which is where independent retailers are likely to get these. On Faire, Sunshine Town has 944 5-star ratings. That would indicate companies selling this kit have lots of happy customers!
5. Ginzan Onsen Book Nook Kit
The Ginzan Onsen book nook kit is by Anavarin. A brand that by and large are resellers, however, they do have a few exclusives, and the Ginzan Onsen is one of the most popular in the Anavarin collection. The other two are the JiuFen book nook kit reminiscent of an alleyway in Taiwan, and the 1940s train cabin book nook kit. The Ginzan Onsen is Japanese-inspired and is the most popular of the three exclusive kits by Anavarin.
However, despite it being called a book nook, it could be better described as a miniature diaroma. It is 3D, and has motion parts, but does not have side panels. To the sides are moving parts (which is the Motion Scene Anavarin use) that they do with exclusive designs to make them more immersive. It’d work as bookshelf decor, but not as a bookshelf insert because it needs a wide berth for the moving parts. For a bookshelf design with a Japanese theme consider the Ginzan Onsen as a bookend and perhaps the Tokyo Alley DIY book nook as a bookshelf insert to complete a Japanese theme.