How to Bring Books Into Your Child’s Life

Friday’s post on building a reader and encouraging reading is just a start. Once you’ve built a reader, you have to nurture that love of the written word and to do so, you are going to need books. Lots of books. And that can get expensive. For example, if you have a kid who can read a $7 book a day, every day, suddenly this is a pretty expensive habit/hobby weighing in around $200/month. If you’re like me, you are going to need some help to afford it.

Here are a couple of ideas on how to keep those books coming into your childrens’ lives without sending yourself to the poor house. Let them have books!

 Inexpensive Ways to Bring Books Into the Lives of Your Children

• Bookcrossing. This is a fun adventure. You go to Bookcrossing.com and watch for a book to be “released into the wild” near you, then you try to beat another Bookcrossing member (free) to the book. You read it, then release it again.

• Second hand book stores. Bring in your old books for credit and get ‘new’ used books for cheap!

• Book swap. Between family and friends, or a bigger event.

• Birthday party book exchange. Everyone brings a wrapped book. Everyone goes home with a book!

• New book store. Sometimes new is king. (Check for sales, coupons, and memberships/reward clubs that might save you money.)

• Giveaways. Author’s releasing their new books love to give them away. Check online contests, Goodreads.com for giveaways and many other places.

• Libraries. Library memberships are often quite low and can pay for themselves within short periods of time.

• Ebooks. Ebooks are often cheaper than print books and sometimes sites have a free book for a limited time that you can download. As well, some sites now allow ebook sharing. (Also check your local library.)

• Yard sales. Sometimes you can get a ton of books for cheap.

• Library sales. Libraries will often sell off discards or donations they can’t use for cheap, cheap, cheap!

• Scholastic Book orders through the school. Often these titles are considerably cheaper than buying them through other vendors.

 

How about you? Where do you get books for your kids? (We’re huge library users, but have tried these other methods as well. Anywhere we can get books is great!)

Coming later this week–16 Ways to Make Reading Playful!