Toddler Book Quandary

[mathmarm]

I'm especially interested if you have only 1 kid or your oldest is PreK/K age. How do you go about getting books for them and keeping up with them all?

 

Do you borrow from library or buy (new or 2nd hand)?

Approximately how many does your toddler own?

Approximately how many do you take out from the library on your toddlers behalf?

How do you keep library books separate from personal books?

Where do you store both types of books?

If your child owns (a lot of) books, then how do you decide what to rotate?

Is there anyway to clean board books?

 

Jrs. library is really growing and I need some ideas to manage it.

[Slache]

We go to the library once every two weeks and I pick out a huge stack. They come home, they go on the bookshelf with the regular books, and after they've been read they go in the library bag in the closet. As time goes on some of the books need to be renewed because we read what he wants to read, not what I want to read. I manage everything online so nothing becomes overdue.

[Farrar]

Well, my kids are way past this stage, but I can maybe offer some wisdom from down the road...

 

We had a huge shelf of books for my kids when they were toddlers. I bought mostly from the thrift store, but also occasionally new. We had board books and proper picture books. Probably several hundred by the time they were four, built up from birth.

 

Additionally, we usually took maybe 10-20 books a week out of the library starting around age 2.

 

I never found a way to organize the books well. It was just a system of encroaching chaos. I did try to do a couple of different organization systems, but none of them "took" and were too much trouble to maintain. Board books are actually pretty easy to maintain because they're small enough and light enough to go into boxes and be put back on the shelf (you can just wipe them down with a baby wipe if they get slimy or something). Picture books are a nightmare. I weeded ours out to a single row on a shelf and they're still difficult to maintain even though we hardly use them. They're just so heavy and thin and not the same size or shape.

 

I kept a library box for those books so we didn't completely lose them. Luckily our library doesn't charge overdue fees though. I also had a few "display" places for newer books or for books I thought they were likely to enjoy. Everything else was basically just shoved back on the shelf.

 

One thing to realize is that the children's book collection is a little like your kid's clothes collection. They outgrow things and you have to weed them out. You have some things they aren't ready for (because they got handed down or you saw a good deal or whatever). You have some things you're saving for the next kid (or for the grandchildren down the road or whatever). There will be different "seasons" of things overlapping - cloth books, board books, picture books, easy readers, the earliest chapter books - all at the same time. You'll have those special things you know you want to keep and those things you know you'll ditch as soon as they're outgrown. And also like the clothes, you end up weeding out more when they're younger and less as they age.

 

When my kids were really little, I think I had to weed out and take a box of books to the thrift store once a year. Bye all but a few board books. Bye all but the most special baby picture books. Bye picture books we don't care about anymore. Bye to the easiest readers. And so forth. But as they got older, I've cleaned out less often. When my kids were both solidly reading picture books, I purged all but a few special early readers. When they were finished with the chapter book stage, I sold all the various Magic Treehouse series type books in two huge boxes for like $30 on my local homeschool list. About a year ago, I weeded out the chapter books and got rid of the stuff no one ever really wanted to read. It's just always an evolving collection.

 

[nature girl]

We've always gotten most of our books from the library, but favorites I like to buy. (When DD was a toddler, we probably owned almost every Eric Carle, Sandra Boynton and Margaret Wise Brown ever written. ;) ) The books we own I primarily keep on a shelf in her room now, but back then we'd keep books we read several times a week in the living room, which is where we do most of our reading, in a child sized bookcase where she could easily grab the books she wanted. (I use that shelf now for the books she reads on her own.)

 

We routinely had 40-50 books out from the library (a bit fewer now, since we're onto chapter books, but we still have at least 25 library picture books out at a time.) I put those in two large baskets in the living room so she can see the covers and pick between them. Along with those and the child's bookcase, she also has a bottom shelf in one of our regular bookcases, for the owned books I particularly like, which are comforting and familiar for her. When we're done with reading a library book, if I feel like it won't be read again I'll put it in a tote we use as a library bag, ready to return.

 

We've never really consciously rotated books, the books we own are books I'm happy to read multiple times. We always end up at least trying out all the library books...There are always some she chooses to read multiple times, which is fine, but if I see there are some that aren't being touched I'll bring them out myself.

[wendyroo]

I'm especially interested if you have only 1 kid or your oldest is PreK/K age. How do you go about getting books for them and keeping up with them all?

 

Do you borrow from library or buy (new or 2nd hand)?

Approximately how many does your toddler own?

Approximately how many do you take out from the library on your toddlers behalf?

How do you keep library books separate from personal books?

Where do you store both types of books?

If your child owns (a lot of) books, then how do you decide what to rotate?

Is there anyway to clean board books?

 

Jrs. library is really growing and I need some ideas to manage it.

 

My oldest is 5.5, but I also have a preschooler and a 15 month old.

 

Do you borrow from library or buy (new or 2nd hand)?

 

I bought A LOT of kids books long before we had children.  There was a thrift store near us that sold children's books for a nickle every Thursday, and I would frequently peruse the selection and bring home a box full of high quality children's literature.  Nowadays, I buy books on Amazon (mostly used, occasionally new) to fill specific needs: fire safety, children's dictionary, beginning introduction to geography, etc.

 

We go to the library every week or two, and read several books while we are there, but we only occasionally check books out.  Lately I have been encouraging my eldest to check out any leveled readers he wants because I have no interest in buying those books since they will be outgrown so quickly, may or may not be on topics that interest my younger boys when they are at that reading level and are mostly insipid, commercialized twaddle.

 

Approximately how many does your toddler own?

 

I catalog all our books in good reads - we have 1062 kid's books.  However, because I was buying any good literature I came across at the thrift store, about 10% of those books are chapter books that are packed away in the attic for now. 

 

Approximately how many do you take out from the library on your toddlers behalf?

 

Almost none for toddlers.  Toddlers can pick from one of the hundreds of books on our shelves.  I do check out a "school" book on a specific topic every couple weeks for the older kids.  I expect this to increase as they get older and are studying more specific topics that we do not have books on (when we get to SOTW 1 next year we will have to hit the library for books on several of the ancient people and civilizations). 

 

How do you keep library books separate from personal books?

 

We have one small...I guess it would be called a mail sorter...that sits near our school stuff.  All library books live there unless they are being read.

 

Where do you store both types of books?

 

As mentioned above, all library books are stored up on a counter in the school area out of reach of sticky hands.  

 

Our books are stored everywhere.  Each of the boys have rain gutter books shelves in their rooms to store the books that they choose from for nap and bedtime reading.  I rotate what is on those shelves periodically to match their interests and attention span.

 

Our seasonal books are stored in with that season's decorations in the attic.  We got out the Halloween books at the beginning of October, and when we put them away we will get out the Thanksgiving books, etc.

 

The rest of our kid's books are stored on book shelves in the office and basement play room.  I have found young kids to be fundamentally incapable of keeping rows of books tidy on a bookshelf, so one of the best investments I ever made were a bunch of sterilite tubs that fit nicely on the book shelves (kind of like this, but with plain, clear plastic tubs and less wasted space).  Now the boys can more easily flip through the books and reshelve them semi-neatly.

 

If your child owns (a lot of) books, then how do you decide what to rotate?

 

Seasonal books are rotated.  Bedroom books are rotated.  Chapter books are out of circulation for the time being.  All other books are available.

 

Is there anyway to clean board books?

 

I wipe them with Lysol or Clorox wipes and stand them up with all the pages spread to let them dry.

 

Wendy

[Pegs]

I have one nearly-Kindergartener. We have a substantial and ever-growing collection of books, which is largely made up of my childhood favourites, books gifted to DS by friends and family, and items I source from the book depository, when I see titles recommended here and elsewhere. I have packed away the books which are better suited to children much younger or older than DS, and shelved the remaining books in his play space, according to the following categories: poetry; fiction; non-fiction and living books; all library books currently on loan; activity books; phonics readers.

 

I strew our books by selecting a few from each category, and putting them in our roaming book box. It follows me to the couch or bed, so that when DS comes over for a cuddle and a chat, we have a variety of materials immediately handy. We often take our box to meal and snack times also.

 

We used to take it to bed at night also, but now I generally just read to him from the kindle. He reads a little reader at the end of every chapter.

[PeterPan]

How to keep library books separate from personal?  Death threats.  Seriously, we have 7K books.  If a book disappears into our personal books, it's OVER.  I keep a laundry basket in the mudroom (house entrance) and that's where the library books go.  

 

How to store board books?  Laundry basket.

 

Notice a theme yet?

 

How to store books in general?  Well shelves are nice, but when I run out I have laundry baskets.  :D

 

How to clean them?  Uh, after he eats them I get over my sentimentality and throw them away.  If germs bother you beyond that, don't use the library.  If he's mutilating beyond the normal eating of board books, well that's a sin and should be stopped.

 

Rotate books?  Wow, you're way more awesome than I am.  I don't rotate books the way I do toys, because there's too much pleasure in rereading a book over and over and finding friends.  Install more shelves or get more laundry baskets.  :)  What I *do* have to do now, sigh, is put away books that really AREN'T going to be used right now.  So I have a ridiculous stash of all the early readers and chapter books.  Everything is still sorted properly, but things that I'm sure can't be used I've had to put away.  

 

In general, don't be too fussy.  Having a lot of books around communicates something very important.  (Unless you let the dog eat them.  Then the totally wrong message comes across.)  But yes, I think it's important to have a lot of books around.  Says the woman whose ds just got diagnosed dyslexic.  Tell me what kind of humor that is between God and man.  I don't know.  I don't know when my ds will ever get to read the 7K books I have.  All the shelves of wonderful things my ds got to enjoy, and I don't know how I can get all that pleasure into him.  I need to start reading to him those books, sort of nibbling the elephant.  Not as fast as reading silently, but what can I do?  

 

We owned very few books growing up, and I actually STILL HAVE my most sacred books from childhood, so books are this sort of terrific thing to me.  Growing up poor, they were what I had, that and the trips to the library.  But I don't think a toddler needs to own lots of books to have an immersive, rich experience.  I think the new use of technology for audiobooks is AWESOME.  I have audiobooks on HOURS every day for my ds.  I got him a kindle and he literally has it on HOURS every day.  I couldn't POSSIBLY read aloud that much to him as what he can get with the technology.  

 

So I think the *time* you spend and the *quality* of the books you read together, and the repetition, the enjoyment of it, are much more important than whether he owns the books or not.  I think, and this is just me, that for a person with limited space (which almost anyone is, mercy), it's better to use the library as much as possible and just buy/own the FAVORITES, the ones you want to use over and over.  Once they start reading, they'll develop their favorites like this.  And you know our library will give homeschoolers a teacher card with no fines and a higher limit on books.  It's AWESOME.  I request books to go with themes and then can just go CRAZY with it.  :D

[Korrale]

I have a cheap plastic milk crate. The type that are popular in stores for college students. I put all the library books in there. I need to keep them separated or we lose them for a while. The crate is also easy to move around the house and to dig through.

When we do library trips we do about 30 books at a time. But sadly we don't get to the library as often as I would like.

 

I buy books at thrift stores or sometimes online. I try to save money by buying books in anthology sets for picture books.

 

The books are all supposed to go into the bookshelves in the back of the house. My son has a little reading area back there.... It doesn't always happen. I find his books all over the house. Even in my bed! But once a week I make him gather them all up and put them back. Sadly the shelves are a mess. My son is 4 and my valiant efforts to contain the mess has been to no avail.

 

We also have crates of books in the front of the house. I do try and keep these as more homeschool books... But of course that doesn't happen either.

[73349]

Toddlers love to hear the same book over and over. A lot of toddler books are annoying. Therefore, I got as many as possible from the library so that we had to return them. (We've always gone once a week.) I take out as many as I can carry in a tote bag.

 

If a book was good enough to renew more than once, I bought it.

 

We kept a lot of our own books in DS's room or the bathroom (potty training actually was what helped him get used to sitting still to hear a story). Library books stay in the living room, often in a pile on the hearth. When we're done with library books, they go back in the bag.

[PeterPan]

I have a cheap plastic milk crate. The type that are popular in stores for college students. I put all the library books in there. I need to keep them separated or we lose them for a while. The crate is also easy to move around the house and to dig through.

When we do library trips we do about 30 books at a time. But sadly we don't get to the library as often as I would like.

 

I buy books at thrift stores or sometimes online. I try to save money by buying books in anthology sets for picture books.

 

The books are all supposed to go into the bookshelves in the back of the house. My son has a little reading area back there.... It doesn't always happen. I find his books all over the house. Even in my bed! But once a week I make him gather them all up and put them back. Sadly the shelves are a mess. My son is 4 and my valiant efforts to contain the mess has been to no avail.

 

We also have crates of books in the front of the house. I do try and keep these as more homeschool books... But of course that doesn't happen either.

Korrale, I'm not trying to pick on you here but maybe help you?  Have you considered something a bit larger like an LLBean tote bag or a laundry basket instead of the crates?  I love crates, but they desecrate books by nicking the edges.  They're also smaller and harder to get the books into by throwing.  You *might* have more success with your picking up with a larger basket.  I can keep, well let's just say an obscene number, 80? in a normal laundry basket.  My card has a limit of 100 and I regularly keep it full.  

 

Does your ds read?  I assume he does with that very bright list of curriculum you've got!  Are you implying he's ADHD and has some executive dysfunctions and is *unable* to put the books away?  Again, not trying to pick on you here but just to *challenge* you.  Speak his currency and follow through.  You will GET what you INSPECT.  I've done ADHD in my house, so I get there are neurological reasons why kids are insanely messy or like things everywhere.  The key is to make things EASIER to put away (larger bins, ditch the milk crates) and FOLLOW THROUGH.  If you have a compliance issue, then you have to speak his currency.  If his currency is he likes to read, then he loses the books if they aren't put away before bed.  Logical consequences.  Don't argue, fuss, or anything else.  Get down, help him put away the books, and build the routine.  Maybe put it on his daily checklist.  

 

Once my dd was a reader, she had a laundry basket for library books in her room and had a regularly scheduled shelving time for our personal books.  I even bought a ton of 10 cent rulers one year, so she could see where she had pulled the book out and put it back.  It was more just about building a sense of order and respect.  Respect for the books is what matters.

 

If he likes to read all over, not just in that assigned reading area, no problem.  If I had a litterer, I'd put a laundry basket in every room!  So then the sacred thing to enforce is BOOKS GO IN THE BASKET.  Then you're not even fighting over whether he was willing to walk to the room with the basket.  All he had to do was put them in the basket in that room.  You can get laundry baskets for $3 at dollar general or pay for fancy ones.  Nuts, Dollar Tree might have them for $1.  

 

You don't have to let it go.  The *character* you develop by forcing him to slowdown, think, attend to his actions, remember instructions is worthwhile.  It builds habits you can build on later in other areas.  You may have to *teach* it a lot before he does it on his own, but it's a worthwhile process.  :)

[Sarah0000]

We have about 500 picture books, and maybe 100 board books, and another several hundred children's chapter books but we've only just now started on chapter books. Besides the board books, most of these were books I already owned or family handed down.

 

They are all stored on bookshelves, except the chapter books (and the majority of the rest of the books which are in the garage). We usually have about thirty books out from the library at a time, and these are strewn around our common reading areas, like the shelves and tables next to the beds, or the dining table. We usually run to the library twice a week, but DS usually only goes with us once a week.

 

Our books have never gotten dirty, so I don't know about that one.

[barnwife]

We have a 4 yo, 2 yo, and 1 yo.

We have...lots of books. I've never counted. But I am going to estimate between 300 and 400. I could probably count the number of books I've bought new in my life on one hand. I get them from thrift shops and garage sales. 

I also have about 30 children's books checked out from the library generally. (This has gone up recently. I've started requesting books about a weekly theme. Before that it was probably about 10 kids' books at a time.)

I try to keep library books in a crate by the couch. Our books theoretically go on bookshelves, although at any given time they are strewn about the floor. Getting them back on shelves is a nightly chore. (It doesn't have to be pretty. I just don't want to be stepping on them after kids are in bed.)

I am not sure what to say about rotating books. This have never occurred to me. The more, the better when it comes to books in my opinion. Well, I guess I do change which ones are on the shelves in their room versus the living room from time to time. But I don't ever put any away.

I've wiped a board book with a damp cloth if something sticky gets on it. 

 

[SKL]

When my kids were tots, I didn't borrow much from the library.  When I did, I kept them in a separate spot so I would be able to find them easily.

 

We owned thousands of books, of which at least a hundred were in my kids' reach throughout the day.  I had little piles of books in various places.  There was the book/toy organizer in their closet, plastic books in the upstairs bathroom, books in the downstairs bathroom (where they usually went potty), books in and around their play yard, soft pillowy books in their beds, books connected to their stroller, books in bins, and probably others that I'm not remembering off hand.  :P  It was the same with toys.

 

I initially cleaned used board books by wiping them with a damp cloth.  If the kids got one really dirty after that, I'd wipe it again.  But generally, I did not go around cleaning books regularly.

 

I didn't really rotate books in and out of use, but my tots would have access to different play areas throughout the day, so they sort of got rotated that way.

 

Due to space limitations, I constantly weed out stuff my kids outgrow.  However, I was not in a hurry to weed out books when they were tots, because most books that I had were valuable for a broad age range.  For example, the pictures were interesting to the youngest, then we could talk about the concepts, then they could start to pay attention to the printed words.  This covered a span of years.  I didn't get rid of some of our "baby books" until both kids were reading storybooks on their own.

[DhanyaCali]

Hey MarthMarm! I'm a little confused as to what age group you're asking about, toddler or pre-k but I have a 1 and 4 year old so I'll tell you about both :)

 

The four year old probably owns about 150 books. We go to the library at least once sometimes twice a week, either our own or a neighbouring towns (they're all connected we use the same card state wide). When he was 2 or 3 I only let him take out one book lest chaos and fines ensue. Now I let him take out only two Ninja books (his twaddle of choice) usually one picture book and one ninjago chapter book he can take out a few other books too, and I sometimes request specific children's books, so I'm more relaxed about the total. We try to keep a "library stack" somewhere in the house so they don't get absorbed in our regular books which are stored on his dresser in his room, on rain gutter bookshelves in his closet turned book nook, on our big bookshelf in the family room and then on various surfaces all about the house.

I don't so much rotate books as sneak out the ones that I think are twaddle or that his interest has cooled in and I don't love either. We donate a lot of books this way.

 

The one year old probably has about 20 board books, maybe less. I think repetition is more important than variety for him. I also keep a mother goose book at the table and I'll read to him in his high chair while he eats and to his brother too in between my bites or if I finish first. I don't see the need for him to take out library books but he sometimes likes to empty the board book shelf while we are there. His books are on a low shelf in the family room, one board book at his high chair so he doesn't grab mine during meals and a couple small ones in his toy bin. I second that antibacterial wipes are the way to go, baby wipes in a pinch or if you worry about super germs.

 

I am addicted to buying used books, at the library at other sales and for 1 cent with $3.99 shipping on half, amazon or ebay if it's a particular title I want.

 

You should read The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, I bet your eager momma mind will just soak up all the knowlegy goodness, it's just such a good read! The library can usually get a copy. Happy reading!

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

My oldest is 10yo, but we also have littles.  We own lots of books.  I have no idea how many.  Really the only books that are put away are college textbooks and some of dh's books.  We have two small book shelves and two tall, double sided ones in our living room.  One of the little ones is for board books, the other is for picture books.  Oldest dd keeps chapter books on a book shelf in her room.  The large book shelves have a variety of books: kids reference type series, kid science books, cook books, religious books, homeschooling books for mom, etc.  We also have one space on the shelf for coloring books and three spaces for library books.  Since we also have older kids we have a lot checked out at one time.  I do check out 5-10 books on a theme for the toddler and preschooler.  They also sometimes pick out other books.  The bigger kids are pretty good about putting books back, but the little kids not as much.  We have 1+ times a day where we clean up the living room and any books that have been left out are put away at that time.  The little kids help to stack the books in piles next to the shelf where they belong and the big kids or mom and dad put them on the shelves properly.  School books are kept in our school cupboards if in use or in boxes put away if not in use.

[Um_2_4]

Well, I started out when eldest was born with at least 500 books in my personal children's library (I was a kg teacher and bought many of my own to read in class).

Bookshelves...lots and lots of bookshelves. In each room. Seriously, not joking. More book shelves. (Our library is horrible and no ILL here and limits and high fees. I use them for ebooks only basically.) We right now are probably in the 3000-4000 range. I have not counted in a while and that does not include textbooks

 

I do keep early readers/phonics readers put away for when they are needed so that they will be "surprises" and not memorized. I probably have 200 leveled readers. Sterilite storage boxes (those that are a bit larger than the shoe box size) are great for storing books by theme. I use those for readers/history books/science books/unit studies. Then I have a walk in closet in my schoolroom where they are stacked and labeled. Right now I have the following stored: Ancient rome/greece, ancient asia/africa/n. america, american history, readers level 1, readers level 2, modern history, astronomy, anatomy, physics, botany, horse unit, ocean studies, insects unit, meterology, dinosaur unit. and a couple others I forget LOL These are the only ones we rotate. I have one shelf for science/history and those are changed based on what we are studying right now.

 

Most of mine are bought at book sales, ebay lots, library used book stores or thrift stores.

 

Baskets that fit on the shelf are great for picture books or magazine holders (I use those to keep all my FIAR books organized as well as books to read with current history/science/geography lessons, Ikea has great sturdy ones.).  

 

My picture books are organized by first letter of the title. This was the easiest way for my kids to find a book they are looking for (like they know to look in the "s" baskets for skippyjon jones books).  All my non fiction books are separated by subject: biographies, history, botany, astronomy, anatomy, geography, etc. Chapter books are semi-organized, that is one of my next projects.

 

Lysol wipes for cleaning board books and just set them up to dry. I still have most/lots of the classic board books and I plan to keep them for (hopefully) grandkids or my future tutoring/teaching post-HSing

 

When we lived in another city (ds10 was a toddler) we kept library books in a basket by the door. They had to be kept away from our bookshelves or they might get lost.

 

One thing we have here is none of the kids OWN a particular book. The house library is for all to share. I might buy them a book as a gift/reward, but that is probably kept in their room for a while and then added to the house library or if it is really specia lto them, they might keep it on their headboard for quite some time, and that is ok. If you plan to have more kids, that is one thing you might want to watch out for. Otherwise you get "hey, x is reading MY book." fights. Some of the books are obviously bought with one child in mind (dragon books for DS 10), but when he finishes, he often offers if DD wants to read it and sometimes she does.

[Korrale]

Korrale, I'm not trying to pick on you here but maybe help you? Have you considered something a bit larger like an LLBean tote bag or a laundry basket instead of the crates? I love crates, but they desecrate books by nicking the edges. They're also smaller and harder to get the books into by throwing. You *might* have more success with your picking up with a larger basket. I can keep, well let's just say an obscene number, 80? in a normal laundry basket. My card has a limit of 100 and I regularly keep it full.

 

Does your ds read? I assume he does with that very bright list of curriculum you've got! Are you implying he's ADHD and has some executive dysfunctions and is *unable* to put the books away? Again, not trying to pick on you here but just to *challenge* you. Speak his currency and follow through. You will GET what you INSPECT. I've done ADHD in my house, so I get there are neurological reasons why kids are insanely messy or like things everywhere. The key is to make things EASIER to put away (larger bins, ditch the milk crates) and FOLLOW THROUGH. If you have a compliance issue, then you have to speak his currency. If his currency is he likes to read, then he loses the books if they aren't put away before bed. Logical consequences. Don't argue, fuss, or anything else. Get down, help him put away the books, and build the routine. Maybe put it on his daily checklist.

 

Once my dd was a reader, she had a laundry basket for library books in her room and had a regularly scheduled shelving time for our personal books. I even bought a ton of 10 cent rulers one year, so she could see where she had pulled the book out and put it back. It was more just about building a sense of order and respect. Respect for the books is what matters.

 

If he likes to read all over, not just in that assigned reading area, no problem. If I had a litterer, I'd put a laundry basket in every room! So then the sacred thing to enforce is BOOKS GO IN THE BASKET. Then you're not even fighting over whether he was willing to walk to the room with the basket. All he had to do was put them in the basket in that room. You can get laundry baskets for $3 at dollar general or pay for fancy ones. Nuts, Dollar Tree might have them for $1.

 

You don't have to let it go. The *character* you develop by forcing him to slowdown, think, attend to his actions, remember instructions is worthwhile. It builds habits you can build on later in other areas. You may have to *teach* it a lot before he does it on his own, but it's a worthwhile process. :)

I am not sure we are thinking of the same thing with these crates. They don't have sharp edges destroying the books in any way. And I can fit a substantial amount of books in them. When the crates are full they are too heavy for my son to lift and I don't want him pushing them around and scratching the floor. A laundry basket would not be an option, it is just too big and heavy. We live in a small house 640sqft of accessible area. I have laundry baskets for clothes, the tall upright ones and they take up too much floor space as it is. The crates on the other hand fit perfectly on a window ledge I have. And they stack neatly. We have 6 of them. We did try archive boxes for a while, they worked okay with smaller board books, but are too small for large picture books. They are also not durable and as portable for a small kid.

 

My son is only 4, autistic and has SPD. But that isn't really relevant in this case. He struggles to put his books away because he pulls out dozens at a time and reads them rapidly and rereads them. We need more bookshelves but we lack space so they are packed tightly. So he struggles to get them all back in the right place. He tries, and they just topple everywhere. This is just something that is going to take time for him and that is okay. I also watch another boy in my house who is a lot younger and he pulls books out just as much, if not more. I don't expect my son to be cleaning up after other children all the time. Although he is very helpful and will stack the books into neat piles in his own accord.

I am more about access of books, and respect of books, than neat and tidy shelves. Sure I would love more order, and we will continue to work on it. But I am not going to fret about it.

 

His reading nook is also not really a room. It is a little 5x6 area where I put a rug down and surrounded it by shelves. It technically is a part of the kitchen. Move the book from that area 12 steps into the living room.... Which is all part of the same room is not like I have books all over a large house. I think that would be a completely different issue. And I do have a crate in his room for all his books. Just some days he likes to lie in our bed for his nap, and he has to drag in an armload of books to read in our bed. He just often leaves some behind....

[SKL]

When my kids were 4 (or frankly any age up to 7), I was not focused on teaching them to organize their books.  It was not a priority for me.  I assume the same is true of many moms.

[DhanyaCali]

^^^ yes and ^^^ yes :D My goal for kids and book is to create enthusiastic lifelong readers. Tidiness is nice but secondary, I personally would NEVER take away reading or book privileges for failure to tidy. And the main point to remember is that each Momma does what she thinks is best and works best for her house and family.

[Sarah0000]

^^ Is there any age at which you'd take away books as a punishment?

 

Just curious because my father had to use that as a punishment for me during my preteen years because I didn't care about losing any other privileges. :)

[Jackie]

I'm especially interested if you have only 1 kid or your oldest is PreK/K age. How do you go about getting books for them and keeping up with them all?

 

Do you borrow from library or buy (new or 2nd hand)?

Approximately how many does your toddler own?

Approximately how many do you take out from the library on your toddlers behalf?

How do you keep library books separate from personal books?

Where do you store both types of books?

If your child owns (a lot of) books, then how do you decide what to rotate?

Is there anyway to clean board books?

 

Jrs. library is really growing and I need some ideas to manage it.

I have an only child who is currently 4 years old.

 

We have a ridiculous (to me) number of owned books and also regularly borrow from the library. When she was still in board books, we owned maybe 100; now that she's primarily in picture books with some chapter books thrown in, she owns several hundred. I used to take out books more randomly from the library - we'd go together, check out however many fit in the back of her stroller. Now I max out my reserves, which are set at 30, and also pick up random other books sometimes.

 

When she was younger, we kept our owned books in plastic milk crates on the floor. She could easily flip through to find one she wanted. We have books in three languages - a majority in English and some in Spanish and French. The foreign language books were in separate bins (I think French were in the blue bin and Spanish in the green bin) and that was the extent of the organization of owned books. Library books were on display shelves to keep them separate.

 

As soon as she learned to read, I jumped at the chance to move the growing collection to shelves that we installed in her bedroom. We still have one bin for the thin little books that don't have titles on their spines. Everything else is on the shelves. Foreign language books still get separated a bit from the others, but no further organization to these. Library books are now in two bins in the playroom, each 1/2 the size of a milk crate - one bin for books that have been read and may be returned to the library on the next trip and one bin for books not yet ready to be returned.

 

I've cleaned board books by lightly spraying a cleaning rag with all purpose cleaner and then wiping off the book.

[happypamama]

My oldest child is 12, so we have had toddlers in the house for a decade, although we haven't bought that many books in the past few years because we have most of the basic kid books already. We have well over a thousand children's books, ranging from board books to chapter books. Many of them are board or picture books.

 

The board books live in a huge wooden box in our schoolroom. The babies like to take them out and look at them, so I just toss them back into the box a couple of times a day. I also have a basket on a table in the schoolroom of picture books, either from our collection or the library, that I'm keeping in active rotation for my young learners.

 

The library books live in a big apple box (or sometimes on the floor next to it if it's too full) in a different room. Yes, occasionally one gets mixed in with our personal books, and I'll have to pay a fine until it reappears. No big deal for all the service we get from our libraries. We hit the library at no set interval, just whenever we need some new material. I have no set rule about what they can take out (except for no Barney the Dinosaur, at all, ever, because he's not allowed in my house), although sometimes I limit the number they can take out on one subject. I won't let them take out ALL the Star Wars books at once, or all the books on elephants, etc., because that's not fair. And something truly offensive, I would veto. Sometimes they grab a big pile and enjoy the bounty, and sometimes they have a couple of carefully chosen books to treasure. It's all good. :). (If they bring home something really twaddly, those books mysteriously "have" to go back sooner.)

 

Our personal books live in our large upstairs hallway, which is a small room and which has a sofa in it. (Old houses are laid out oddly.). I have several of the cube shelves for the books, because those work so nicely to keep picture books from sliding down. I have history books grouped together, science books together, Dr. Seuss and Eric Carle books in their own cubbies, etc., but most of the picture books are not sorted because I want to make it easy for the kids to clean them up. Periodically I pull out a selection of books for the basket downstairs or for our schoolwork, or the kids find some new favorites and bring them down.

[DhanyaCali]

Me? Probably not. 

 

Also our library has fine forgiveness Wednesdays, as you can imagine that's a HUGE blessing, I still try to get them back or renew them but still it's nice not to have to ever pay fines.

[Gentlemommy]

When I only had one dd, (and also now that I have 3 dd's) I would buy her books from library sales, garage sales, and thrift stores. I hit the jack pot when the school library where my mom worked closed and let her keep whatever she wanted. She came over with bins and bins of books...probably thousands of them total. We still have a ton of them.

I rarely buy new, it's too expensive. The goodwill/thrift stores near where we live now are awesome. $.10-$1 a book.

I do use the library now, because my oldest reads like crazy, so I'm letting her get her paper back series books there. My current preschool dd is allowed to pick 5-7 books from the library. They live on the fireplace mantle so they don't get lost.

When I buy used books (not so much now, but when they were little enough to be mouthing them) I'd put them outside in the bright sunshine for a day or two. Otherwise I didn't really worry.

Board books were stored in baskets, regular books on shelves. We started with two 3x7 foot shelves, and now we are triple that. My youngest is now four, so we only have a few board books left.

[LaughingCat]

I must admit I dislike board books - they are great for the littlest kids, but they are horrible for storing.  So once past the tearing up pages/mouthing books stage, I got rid of all the board books. If there was a story they loved, I bought it as a picture book.  If I couldn't find it, then the very few board books left went on their personal book shelf.  In fact I just sold the last 2 board books that DD the younger had held on to through multiple cullings. 

 

Picture books are kept in plastic bins here.   Many, many plastic bins lol!  I have at times organized the bins but have never really found a system that worked long term.  I use a relatively small low style bin - more low baskety, not so crate like -  which allows easier 'flipping' through the books and fits well on my shelves. 

 

Library books go in the front of the 'bedtime reading' bin (next to the bed) or in the current living room bin - neither of my kids has been a 'drag the book around the house' kind of kid, so this has worked to keep the books in 'one spot'. 

[Lawyer&Mom]

My library has all board books on the honor system.  Don't check them out, just take them.  Bring them back whenever.  They do have a big yellow sticker on the front to remind you where they came from, but that's it.

 

I think its wonderful.  I can only hope some families are taking advantage of the system.  More books for kids!

[kubiac]

Do you borrow from library or buy (new or 2nd hand)?

Mostly, I buy used so I can buy volume* and so if the kids trash a book (actually extremely rare around here), it's not the end of the world. I want these books to be USED.**

 

DS4 often asks if a book belongs to us or the library because our used purchases are often "ex-lib" and so still have the same cards and pockets as an official "real" library book that's still in circulation. We buy used to new at a ratio of about 10:1. If I am going to buy a new picture book, I think of it as an investment piece, and I select carefully before acquiring a new hardback with dustjackets, etc. A new book is generally $17 around here, OR I can buy 17+ used books for the same amount.

 

Used books online are more expensive than used children's books in the wild: Amazon used titles often cost about $4 (.01 for a book in many cases, and $3.99 shipping), but you can even do better than that if you look out for a Better World Books sale. They regularly do clearances where you can get $2.50ish a book. Sometimes eBay lots will go even lower than that. Set up an email alert on eBay for specific titles and authors you'd like to have in your collection and start watching the market for those materials. http://www.booksalefinder.com/ is an extremely useful site for any parent looking to build a home library.

 

As we move into easy readers and read-aloud chapter books, I am less concerned with the book as art itself, and generally prefer to borrow from the library or grab cheap paperbacks if I'm going to buy at all. That said, I still won't pass up a first edition of The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles at a library book sale for $1.

 

Approximately how many does your toddler own?

We have thousands of children's books, almost all acquired in the last 4.5 years since DS1 was born.

 

Approximately how many do you take out from the library on your toddlers behalf?

We only withdraw about 2-5 library books a week, on average. Baby is so swamped with books at home that I don't bother getting fresh stock at the library for him, but I do check out new materials for the older child, mostly because I am curious about books I've seen recommended online and want to see them for myself!

 

How do you keep library books separate from personal books?

Library books live on a dedicated shelf in our "family launching pad" low table by the front door. When we're done with a read-aloud session they go straight back to the library shelf. (Also, library books are easy to spot in a pile because they are almost always wrapped in those Brodart dustjacket covers that eventually get dingy from wear. When we adopt ex-lib books, I usually remove the old Brodarts and replace with shiny fresh ones--oh yes, I cover my book covers! #crazy)

 

Where do you store both types of books?

* Library books are on the library shelf by the front door

* Home books:

* 3 bookshelves for the general collection

* 1 smaller shelf for the smaller board books aimed at the 0-3 market

* Dedicated bins for folk-fairy-tale collections, Mother Goose, poetry collections and pop-up books.

* One high shelf for me to store upcoming read-aloud novels and story collections

* Additional storage in the garage contains the hoard of books for future use and books that are on an out-cycle of rotation

 

If your child owns (a lot of) books, then how do you decide what to rotate?

* We regularly deaccession duplicates, rejects and extras to local Little Free Libraries, nearby preschools and friends.

* We don't rotate per se, but low shelves are a free-for-all. The kids can help themselves to any of those books at any time. Fancier books go on higher shelves and I select them for read-alouds as the situation warrants. When I say "should we read?" the toddler careens over to his favorite shelf hollering "Ree, ree! Boh, boh! Ree, ree!" I notice that he has an easier time pulling down hardbacks with his chubby little ham hands; he has a hard time picking out individual titles from a shelf of crammed-together paperbacks. He still doesn't care what the book is or what it says, but he is learning to turn pages and discuss pictures he finds intriguing.

* We have a smallish house so I'm limited to the three big shelves for our main everyday collection. Sometimes when I notice a shelf is languishing for attention, I'll swap it out for a fresh batch of material from the garage. For example, I might put away the Little Golden Books for a while in exchange for a batch of Parents' Magazine Press titles.

 

Is there any way to clean board books?

Very easy to clean any book with a glossy cover or glossy dustjacket, especially board books. I use 409 (pick something less harsh if you prefer) and paper towel. Sticker residue can be removed with Goo Gone, Goof Off or rubbing alcohol. The only "unrecoverable error" we really face with books is massive water damage. It just warps the book and usually ruins the pages. We let the kids use board books very heavily, but I usually don't toss them until the mud and food slime is so thick it can't be scraped off or until multiple pages are unreadable because they've been catastrophically torn. 

 

* working with a theory of muchness and some strewing ideology here.

** "It is important that children come to regard books as 'user-friendly,' as tools to be used, rather than venerable artifacts. Hard use, not reverence, should be encouraged." --Homeschooling for Excellence, Micki Colfax

[PagesandFields]

I'm especially interested if you have only 1 kid or your oldest is PreK/K age. How do you go about getting books for them and keeping up with them all?

 

Do you borrow from library or buy (new or 2nd hand)?

both.  I go to the library at least weekly and buy.  Most of the books we own are from thrift stores or library sales.  I tend to like out of print books or obscure books, so there are several that I've bought new also.  

Approximately how many does your toddler own?

We own probably hundreds, but remember I've collected over time at thrift stores mostly.  Library book sales sell books usually for .25 each.  

Approximately how many do you take out from the library on your toddlers behalf?

We take out 10 books for the kids each week.  I usually pick an area of the shelves and go through and pick out things that look nice.  I usually also get some non-fiction or other books separate from this.  When my littler was younger I would pick out 10 picture books, then probably about 4 board books just for her.  Now she likes the picture books like older.  

How do you keep library books separate from personal books?

I have 1 big canvas bags, one for each library we go to.  The library books stay in the bags near a little bench by our couch.  

Where do you store both types of books?

I have one big shelf with all our owned picture books, and several other bookshelves all round with older books or certain favorites, and we have a school room where some particular to "school time" go...  

If your child owns (a lot of) books, then how do you decide what to rotate?

Except for seasonal stuff for school time I no longer rotate.  The rotation happens with the library books... new ones every week.  The rest are available for them to look through whenever they want.  

Is there anyway to clean board books?

I often use alcohol wipes on books - especially new ones when I first buy them from thrift.  

 

Jrs. library is really growing and I need some ideas to manage it.

 

ETA:  We are very bookish people and own a ton of books...  I've organized them different ways through the years.  There's no one way that suits kids... I think it changes depending on their age and independence.  I'm sure I'll rearrange stuff again soon!  :)

[Btervet]

Do you borrow from library or buy (new or 2nd hand)?

Both, but mostly borrow from the library. I buy maybe 4-5 books per year per kid. Each gets another 4-5 as gifts per year. We check out 50+ a week from the library, so we favor that by far.

Approximately how many does your toddler own?

We have around 200 kids books. 30 are children's Encyclopedias. 

Approximately how many do you take out from the library on your toddlers behalf?

We go once or twice a week, and check out 30-40 each time, so around 50/week. This has gone up a lot now that we are in easy readers; before that stage, it was 20 or so a week.

How do you keep library books separate from personal books?

Personal books are kept on our bookshelves (in kids room/living room/basement). When they are read they go back on the shelf immediately. I trained that very early, by following through every time. If you are done with a book, it goes back on the shelf. Library books are kept in piles on top of the dresser in our school room, the piles are sorted by type. When they are done being read, they go back in the library bags to return. They only leave the school room while being read, and immediately get returned when they are done.

Where do you store both types of books? 

We have books in every main area of the house. A big shelf is in the kids room, so the 4 year old can read from that at night. This is where most of the books we own are, and I don't worry about organization on the shelves, but the books are absolutely required to go back on the shelves when he is done reading them. Kids book take up a single shelf in our living room and our basement/play area as well. I don't really organize them, but they have sorted themselves somewhat as my kid moves them around. Library books are separate in the school room.

If your child owns (a lot of) books, then how do you decide what to rotate?

We don't rotate. He has free access to all his books. I think I read the same three books to him every day for a year, toddlers especially thrive on repetition. 

Is there anyway to clean board books?

You can wipe them off, but really, they don't have a long life if you kid is a chewer.