Where do you buy your books? When to take books from library?

[etwahl]

I'd like to start buying Lauren a few books (well I have a few, but I'd like to start building a bit more of a library for her I guess).

Where does everyone buy their books? I'm not near any Marshalls or Ross, although once in a while we do go to a place that has both those.

Any suggestions? Any good book clubs?

Also, how much of a library to build? At what age will she be old enough to take books out of the library?

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[lukkykatt]

We do sometimes buy books from regular bookstores. But most of the time, I buy from Marshall's, or there is a discount bookstore near us too. They do have a website: www.salebooks.com It is not the place to look if you want a particular book, as what they have in stock is always changing. But it is a great place to check from time to time to see what is there.

For now, I would stick to board books, and then introduce "regular" books at around age 2, when she can turn the pages without ripping them.

You can start going to the library now, as long as they have board books. I started taking my boys to the library from infancy, and they both love it. BTW, our library has great children's programs - you should check what yours offers.

[etwahl]

Our library has story hour every friday at 9:30 and 10:30 which we're going to start doing. I didn't know if I should take out books from the library yet, since everything goes in her mouth?

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[momtoemma]

Tammy,

I buy most of my daughter's book from either buy.com, amazon.com or overstock.com. I just check to see who has the best discount and sometimes you can even get free shipping. Happy shopping!

[redhookmom]

I would say we have hundreds of kids books in our house. I absolutely love reading. On that note don't ever buy a book that you do not love because it will become your kids favorite... My main sources of books are:

Chilren's book of the Month Club: You get the first 6 or so for free and then are commmited to buying a few more. The books are of good quality and affordable. I have "rejoined" a number of times. Once you boy the required number of books you can start over.

Library: We have checked out books from the library since my kids were about 1, our library has a large selection of board books.

Library book sales: I have left these sales with bags and bags of books. The books we choose are usually like new and cost about .20 cents. Along the same lines you can check out yard sales.

Chinaberry.com is wonderful catalog of children's books. I would suggest requesting a copy. It is full of wonderful and thoughtful suggestions.

HTH
Jessica

[August Mom]

We buy most of our books at TJ Maxx or Marshalls. I have also found good buys at Sam's and Costco, but you never know what the selection will be. For the best selection at the best price, I like buy.com. There is periodically free shipping, so I generally buy then.

[stillplayswithbarbies]

We are a big book family here. I have all my childrens books from when I was a kid, plus what I bought when my son was young. And yet I am still buying more for Logan. I have found some at http://www.kidsurplus.com , but if a particular book is mentioned here I will check buy.com or amazon.com for it.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[KathyO]

I don't know about Lauren, but my little chomper was very hard on books for the first little while, so I picked up some bargain-bin board books and designated them the official "sacrificial" books. They got their corners gnawed on, their spines cracked, and occasionally got stood on or pulled apart in the course of DD learning to handle them. So my item of advice would be to save the books you're really fond of until she's gotten the chompies out of her system.

Have fun! I buy lots of books at garage sales, so as to afford a big collection, because otherwise I'd go stark staring mad from reading the same six over and over and over and over and... you get the idea.

Cheers,

KathyO

[LucyG]

Also, check out consignment sales and used bookstores. The books may not be brand new, but they are often in good shape still. If you live near an elementary or primary school, most have book fairs (Scholastic, for example) during the school year. I would think you could go and purchase books at the school during the sale. Just about every elementary school that I know of has a book fair at least once a year as a fundraiser for the school. The school where I teach has one in the fall and one in the spring.

[etwahl]

Kate, how are you? I haven't heard from you in a while. You emailed a while back that you had something to email me but i never heard back from you.

What are some of your favorite books? A while back there was a post about favorite books, but I can't find it now. I'm wondering if it's because of the new format.

Maybe another post I'll start...

Tammy,
Mom to Lauren Genevieve
03/12/2003
www.evantammy.com

[egoldber]

I think we have about 3 dozen board books, almost all I got at TJ Maxx type stores or Costco. A few were gifts and some I got full price because I wanted them :) . I have MADE myself stop buying board books and start looking for picture books now.

We happily used our own books until she was about 18 months. Then we started getting books out of the library on a regular basis. I get a few every other week and that seems to keep her intereste piqued. And she LOVES picking out her own books! :)

[amp]

I hate to say it, but we buy most books at Borders because we have one locally. If you do shop there, get their Explorers punch card, which you get punched everytime you buy something from their children's section. After 10 punches, you get $5 off your next purchase. Not much, but I'll take any deal I can get! I keep meaning to try www.Overstock.com because I hear that you can check out books on Amazon and then go buy them at Overstock for a better deal. We also have a Half Price Books store near here and there is a site online by the same name - www.halfpricebooks.com (I don't know if they are affiliated.) I've also been known to purchase books at Target.

[Jen841]

I guy them on Amazon and at TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

Food for thought, growing up my parents and Aunt and Uncle had an agreement to buy us kids JUST BOOKS because we had so many toys. Our favorite books growing up were all those that Aunt Betsy bought us. Age appropriate books were wonderful. She bought me my copy of Little Women, The Secret Garden, Harry the Dirty Dog, Are you There God it is me Margaret,...

[julierobin]

We buy most of our books from half.com and ebay.com. Both sites have thousands of good books at good prices.

We also buy from a local store called Half Priced Books. I don't know if they are only in Minnesota.

Julie, Mommy to Ben 8/7/03

[colleenfs]

I would stick with board books for some time to come. They are much more durable and will put up with the whole eating phase a bit better. I am just now starting to buy hardback books for Julia. But it's definitely not too early to start reading and enjoying books!

I started borrowing (board books only) from the library when she was 8 months old. If she really liked a book, then I would purchase it for her. But for the most part, she was eager to go from book to book. Now, she has clear favorites, and we are definitely stuck in a rut!

A few recommendations - look for big pictures that are not too busy. Babies like to focus on one thing, often a face. I highly recommend the board books by Karen Katz. You can easily find them by doing a search on Amazon. Lift the flap books are great for babies, as well. Several of the Katz books are like this, as are the Maisy books. We also have a fabulous Mother Goose flap book. Julia picked up several words through this one. Julia also liked to look at photos of babies at this age. Now, she loves to read through my parenting magazines, and she is finally at the stage where she won't rip them to shreds.

By the way, I am a children's librarian, so if you have any requests, please let me know.

~Colleen
Mama to Julia 1-10-02

[egoldber]

Now see, I didn't know that you were a children's librarian!! Please HELP me with the world of picture books!! Today at the library I looked at picture books for the first time instead of board books. Talk about overwhelming!! There are so many!!

I thought it was nice at my library that they put a few books on top of the shelves to "entice" you. I stuck with those and found a few that she liked. Today we got:

"Warthogs in the Kitchen: A Sloppy Counting Book" (she LOVED this one)

"Pete's a Pizza" (she wasn't too into it but it seemed cute so I thought I'd try it at home)

"Olivia" (how can you go wrong with Olivia?)

"Daddy is a Doodlebug" (cute, cute)

Any recommendations for sure fire hits? We have the "Give a Mouse a Cookie" type books and Dr Seuss books, so I'm looking for other things.

Thanks!

[Momof3Labs]

I love the Give a Mouse a Cookie books!!! Kohl's department stores have four of the series in hardback for $5 right now, so I HAD to buy them all!

[Ryansmom]

Beth,

I highly recommend any book by Richard Scarry. These were my favorite books as a child and I still vividly remember some of the pages 30+ years later. :) R. Scarry books are great if your little one likes detail. Each page is full of so many objects to name - cars, animals, people (okay - animal people), places, etc. I am sure I learned many new words this way.

Have fun with this stage! DS is finally to the stage where he is demanding certain books and I am having a great time reading to him. We have most of my R. Scarry collection on hold - until he is able to handle non-baord books.

[ddmarsh]

Here are some of our favorite picture books:

anything by Eric Carle
Cordouroy
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
Stellaluna
Verdi
Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel
and of the Froggy series (Froggy Plays Soccer, etc.)
and of the Franklin series
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Pigsty
Brown Bear, Brown Bear
Polar Bear, Polar Bear
Me Too
Flat Stanley (really beyond picture book level but a great book)
Harry the Dirty Dog
Lyle Lyle Crocodile
Paddington Bear
Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day
Officer Buckle and Gloria
A Fine Fine School


These are just a few off the top off my head. We love books in our house :).

[lukkykatt]

We also love Richard Scarry! We own a few of his shorter books, and I just got DS one from the library, and he wants to read it every day! I too remember them from my childhood... The only warning is that some of them take a LONG time to read! When we read some of the Scarry books, we say up front that is going to be the only bedtime book (the one we have from the library takes about 30 minutes).

Other favorites are: any of the Corduroy, Froggy, Curious George and Jesse Bear books. There is also an author named Byron Barton, whose books my DS' love. They are very simple and colorful - alot of them have transportation themes though, so I am not sure if girls would like them as much.

I did make the mistake of picking up Babar at the library a few months ago. I just remember loving Babar when I was little! I was shocked because I had to make up half the story because within the first few pages, Babar's mother gets killed by a hunter with a gun, he runs away and meets up with an old woman who gives him whatever he wants. Then he marries his cousin at the end - maybe that is ok in the elephant world :) But I do make sure now to look through my old favorites before bringing them home!