Building a library for your child, Part 2 – How to find

Part One of this series HERE.

Now that you’ve decided to be intentional about providing quality reading material for your children, where can you find it?

Here are my suggestions for you if you are just starting out on this quest–

- Make the library work for you by utilizing the inter-library loan system in your county. (After all, you’re paying for the service with your taxes!) To preview books, simply log on to your local library’s website, request a whole bunch of them at once and they’ll have a nice little pile waiting for you behind the counter in a week or so.

- Get “OK” with the idea of purchasing used books. Many of the best books for children are out of print today for various reasons.

- Shop Amazon and Abebooks. I’m not sure why, but I usually can find cheaper copies of books on Abebooks, so I’ve started to check there first!

- Learn how to work library book sales. I shared my tips for how to do this in a previous post HERE.

- Keep your eye out for books at regular garage sales, but realize that estate sales and church rummage sales (especially at older churches) are the best places to find those older, quality books. I just in the last year realized that most people now post their garage sale ads on Craigslist. By using the search tool within the “garage sale” section, you can see which ones are selling books. Also, the garage sale listings that mention “antiques” in their ad usually have old books, too.

- Form a good relationship with your local used book shop owner (or you can borrow mine! If you give Heather from Beloved Books a call with a particular book you’re looking for, if she has it, she’ll ship it to you!) Once they know what types of books you are looking for, they will often let you know when they have something you’d be interested in. I’ve found that the older and mustier the shop, the more likely you’ll find the books you’re looking for!