Built by a Dad, for Parents

I'm Erik, and I built Shelf Checkout because my wife Shannon and I were tired of Googling every book our daughters brought home from the library.

Like most parents, we care about what our kids read. Not in a ban-every-book way — in a "know before they read" way. We want them exposed to great stories, complex themes, and diverse perspectives. But we also want to be aware of content that might be too mature, too scary, or just not aligned with what we think is appropriate for their ages.

The problem? There was no fast, reliable way to know.

We tried Common Sense Media (love them, but limited coverage). We tried Googling ISBNs (hit or miss). We tried asking librarians (helpful but overwhelmed). We tried reading the first chapter ourselves (too slow when your kid has 15 books stacked up).

One Saturday morning, we were standing in the library with our two daughters — Averie (12) and Jules (8) — holding a combined stack of maybe 20 books. I started Googling titles on my phone. Twenty minutes later, I'd only checked 4 books and the girls were getting restless.

I thought: "There has to be a better way."

The Overnight Build

That night, I couldn't sleep. I got up around 2 AM and started prototyping. What if you could just scan a barcode and get an instant verdict based on YOUR family's preferences?

By sunrise, I had a rough proof-of-concept. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. Shannon tested it at the library the next week and came back grinning. "This is what we've needed for years."

That's when I realized: if we needed this, thousands of other parents probably do too.

Why AI?

I love human-written reviews. They're thoughtful, nuanced, and trustworthy. But they can't scale. There are ~300,000 new books published in the US every year. Even the best review sites can't keep up.

AI isn't perfect, but it's fast and it works on any book with an ISBN. The key was pairing AI analysis with community verification — parents report inaccuracies, and we improve the system for everyone.

We're not replacing human judgment. We're augmenting it. The app gives you information; you make the decision.

Our Values

Shelf Checkout is built on three principles:

• Transparency: You should know how the AI works, what data we collect, and how we use it.
• Privacy-first: Your family's info stays on your device. We don't sell data, track behavior, or show ads.
• Parent empowerment: You're the expert on your kids. We give you tools; you make the calls.

What's Next

We're launching on iPhone first, with Android coming soon after. The app is simple right now — barcode scanning, AI analysis, personalized verdicts — but we have big plans:

• Discussion guide generation (turn every book into a teachable moment)
• Reading level assessment (pair content analysis with complexity scores)
• School/library integrations (help educators vet collections)
• Better community verification tools (make it easier to report and improve accuracy)

But for now, we're focused on solving one problem really well: helping parents make confident reading decisions, fast.

Join Us

If this resonates with you, sign up below. You'll be the first to know when we launch, and you'll get early access to test the app and shape what comes next.

Thanks for reading. I hope Shelf Checkout makes your library trips a little less stressful and a lot more confident.

— Erik
Dad, developer, and builder of things families need