Bookshelf Jr. vs Elsevier eBooks+
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Bookshelf Jr.
This app provides a digital reading experience for children aged 5-12, featuring an engaging interface and age-appropriate content. It offers offline access, content discovery, and a simplified reader for young learners, with advanced tools for older students.
- Offline learning access
- Content discovery
- User-friendly navigation
- Simplified reader interface
- Notes and highlights
- Read Aloud feature
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Bookshelf Jr. offers an age-appropriate digital learning experience for learners from 5–12 with a new engaging interface designed to make reading captivating! Bookshelf Jr. Features: • Anywhere, anytime access, including offline learning. • Content discovery features to delight learners. • Simple, user-friendly navigation and an engaging reading experience. • Synchronization across multiple browsers so readers can pick up where they left off. New Students • Age-appropriate content and images. • Simplified reader interface to keep young learners focused. Growing Students • Advanced learning tools, such as notes and highlights. • Search within a book for a term or phrase. • Bookmark a favorite page and return to it with ease. • Listen to your eBooks with our Read Aloud feature. Requirements: • iOS 10+ tablet
Elsevier eBooks+
Access your medical textbooks offline and enhance your learning with tools for note-taking, highlighting, and flashcard creation. Sync your progress and annotations across devices for a seamless study experience.
- Offline book access
- Note-taking and highlighting
- Flashcard creation
- Cross-device syncing
- In-book search
- Figure viewing and zooming
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The Elsevier eBooks+ Bookshelf companion app provides on and offline access to the books in your eBooks+ account on the Content Library page. Enhance your reading experience with tools designed to build and improve your medical knowledge; making and sharing notes, highlighting key text, and creating flashcards. Elsevier eBooks Features: • Download books to your iOS device for easy online or offline reading. • Simple, user-friendly navigation and a clean reading experience. • Search inside your current book or across your full library. • Select text to create notes or highlights from your mobile device. • Tap to open figures, view captions, and pinch to zoom. • Sync your bookmarks, last page read, and all of your notes and highlights between your iOS device and our desktop or web-based eBooks+ apps. Requirements: • Elsevier eBooks+ account • One or more books available in your eBooks+ Bookshelf account • iOS 17+
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Elsevier eBooks+ at 43% against Bookshelf Jr.'s 0%. Elsevier eBooks+ also leads on rating (4.7 vs 2.3) and ratings volume (1.9K vs 3). Bookshelf Jr.'s advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium) and iOS requirement (11.0 vs 17.6). On price, update cadence, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Elsevier eBooks+ holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 2.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Elsevier eBooks+ has 1.9K ratings behind it against 3, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Bookshelf Jr.'s written reviews are positive against 43% of Elsevier eBooks+'s.
Bookshelf Jr. ships an update every 3 months, Elsevier eBooks+ every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on November 2, 2026 and November 7, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Bookshelf Jr. | Elsevier eBooks+ |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 2.3 (3 ratings) | 4.7 (1.9K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 0.0% of reviews | 42.9% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 3 | 1.9K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free — better | Freemium |
| Devices | iPad | iPhone, iPad — better |
| Requires iOS | 11.0 — better | 17.6 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 92 MB | 183 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | VitalSource Technologies, Inc. | Elsevier Inc. |
Customer experience
Bookshelf Jr.
Elsevier eBooks+
Bugs and requests
Bookshelf Jr.
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
Elsevier eBooks+
Reported bugs
5 issues- Figures placed at the end of chapters
- Search function only works for single words
- Inability to clear search history
- Freezing and crashing issues
- Incompatibility with older devices
Requested features
8 requests- More highlighting and note-taking options
- Ability to write, draw, or paste images on pages
- Separate flashcard option integration with Anki/Quizlet
- More font size options
- Streamlined text selection for voiceover
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- Page turning instead of scrolling
- Ability to write on pages
- Interactive features
In-app purchases
Bookshelf Jr.
No in-app purchases
Elsevier eBooks+
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Bookshelf Jr. free?
Is Elsevier eBooks+ free?
Which has better reviews, Bookshelf Jr. or Elsevier eBooks+?
Do Bookshelf Jr. or Elsevier eBooks+ have ads?
Which is updated more often, Bookshelf Jr. or Elsevier eBooks+?
Other comparisons
