"I will start by saying that if you want to buy the latest children's book both non-illustrated or illustrated and get the pleasure of having the book signed by the author/illustrator for no extra cost and especially if you can get to the store in NYC for the signing event, then Books of Wonder is the place for you. They have been in business a long time (at least since the 1980s) and their books are extremely high quality. But their online business leaves something to be desired. I saw that they had for sale Kinuko Craft's latest, Beauty and the Beast, available November 28th. This illustrator does very beautiful work and I don't have enough of her books, so I ordered online and requested Priority Mail (1 of 3 choices). I ordered on November 18, and got the 1st email that same day confirming and stating estimated ship date of November 28th. I received a 2nd email on November 28th stating that my "order updated to status of Payment Received;" and still showing the estimated ship date as November 28th. I of course had to tell them which credit card to use when I placed the original order. I did not see any mention of a tracking number, neither on the 2nd email nor on my order status page on their website. I called them on November 30th to request the tracking number. I spoke to Chris that afternoon who was able to give me the tracking number, and who verified that my book was going via Priority Mail (which I paid extra for). I should explain that I have had packages mishandled (i.e., going to somebody else!) and my only protection is the tracking number. So of course I ran the tracking number which showed that at 2:29PM (about the time I called the store) the shipping label was created and that USPS was awaiting item (location NY, NY). I ran the tracking again on December 2; this time it showed additional info: Dec 1 6:43PM accepted at USPS Origin Facility NY, NY (that's 28 hours between shipping label creation and acceptance!) and Dec 1 7:58PM arrived at USPS Origin Facility Jersey City, NJ. On the evening of Dec 3 the tracking showed Dec 3 7:58AM in transit to destination. It did not say what the destination was. It showed that my book sat in Jersey City for 36 hours (day and a half). On December 5th I received my 3rd email from Books of Wonder stating that my order had shipped, gave me my tracking number and still stated estimated ship date of November 28th. One whole week passed between their 2nd and 3rd emails! Also on December 5th the tracking info showed: Dec 4 9:40 PM arrived at USPS Destination Facility Albany NY; Dec 5 8:17AM arrived at our PO, was sorted at 8:23AM, and was out for delivery at 8:33AM. It took more than a day and a half to get from Jersey City NJ to Albany NY. When the package arrived around Noon, I saw that the label stated Priority Mail 2 Day. Even if I only count December 1st (day PO actually got it) to Dec 5th (day I got it), that still equals 3 days, not 2. If I count Dec 1, 2, 3, 4 , and 5, that equals 5 days. I paid $6.80 for Priority Mail 2 days, and didn't get the service. I have ordered from other companies in NYC and paid $3.99 for 1st Class Mail and gotten my packages in 3 days (I live in upstate NY 1 hour from Montreal). And to be told several days after the package started on its way to me that it's on the way to me and still showing the erroneous estimated shipping date is very sloppy customer service! This store has in its inventory rare books costing thousands of dollars; surely they can afford extra help to send timely emails and ensure that we get our books in the promised deadline! "