My mom is a huge book lover and owns many books, and my husband and I both love reading as well..... we have tons of books around the house (my husband even built a bookshelf above our closet doors to accommodate our burgeoning book collection—his ingenious design is pictured below—and we have another big bookcase in the living room).
So as I search for books for my sons, or find ones they like at the library, it is very tempting for me to buy them! (Especially when I can find a good price on eBay or Amazon.)
So I thought I'd poll my blogging pals—how do you decide, especially with kids books, what to buy and what to simply check out at the library?
6 comments:
I almost always check them out. If it is one that especially touches my heart like "I'll Love You Forever" I buy them as paper backs. i was given a lot of books! Blessings! Books are great either way!
When my oldest was little and we didn't have many children's books, I bought books that I really liked and thought he would enjoy too (and I worked in 2 Pre-schools while in college, so I got to know lots of books that way). I've had to adjust some of my expectations along the way, since I have all boys!
But now that we have tons of books (a lot, like you!) I usually go to the library first. If I find one that is really liked, then sometimes I'll buy it. I'm also more likely to buy non-fiction for the kids (like about bugs and stuff!) that can be used over the years.
Sara - if you ever want to email me, my email is rctaher at hotmail.
This is a hard one. I don't find myself with much time to read these days, but I do love books and want to pass that along to my kids!
When it comes to books for me, if it's a book that I know I will read/refer to again, or if it's a book that I am dying to read but for whatever reason can't get it from the library, I may just buy it. Most fiction titles I borrow from the library or a friend.
As for kids books... Right now we just have loads of books and I'm cool with it. They are well-used. :) I don't find myself tempted to buy them very often, since we've accumulated so many. Still, we've started making trips to the library, which Will loves. :)
I love your "ceiling book shelf"! Great idea. It's fun to find creative ways to store things. We ended up buying a standing TV cupboard that we liked at Target, created some shelves for the inside, and converted it into a "hidden bookshelf" for our living room! It's deep so it holds plenty of books, and the closing cupboards make things look nice & tidy. :)
My daughter reads so many books we wouldn't be able to eat if we bought them all. The library is our good friend!
Oh, yeah!
My daughter is 14 and reads the books that cost $15-20 each. And she only reads them once. And she'll read two or three per week if she has the time.
BUT, when my kids were little like your guys? We owned lots of books - which they enjoyed reading over and over (and over!) again.
So I was thankful for book-of-the month offers and gifts and any way I could find to keep our shelves stocked with fun (inexpensive!) books.
Since my children are still at an age where they don't read on their own and we need to read to them aloud, we tend to buy books. But I buy them at garage sales, half-priced books, or on sale! If you can find a used book store by you, that would be a great resource unless then you'd just be tempted to buy twice as many, haha!
Once they're reading on their own I think we'll still buy books as gifts (birthdays & Christmas) but otherwise utilize the library a LOT!
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