Aug 11 2008
Buying Books
So far since my son was born I have had two friends with younger kids ask me where I get all those little kid books that are always scattered all over our living room floor. At first this question surprised me. As a book lover I assumed that everyone was as versed as I seem to be in the book searching and buying arena. The more I think about it though the more I figure that this question comes from our increasing reliance on computers and the Internet for our reading material. I’m a die hard though - I need that physical book in front of me while I read so I can make notes to myself as I go. Everyone calls me old fashion (that is until the power goes out and they can’t charge their wireless reading devices).
Anyway, although the teacher side of me would love to get into a philosophical discussion about the role of technology and new media in literacy and pedagogical practices I will save that for another post and for now offer the bare bones response that I gave my friends. There are tons of places to find kids books - both in person and online.
The last time I got the question it was directed at places my friend could go that day to pick up books. Here are my responses for physical locations:
- Large chain baby store or kids store: They do have books here but surprisingly the ones by us don’t have many books for babies. This probably varies from store to store but it’s worth a shot if you want a couple of books fast. The only other drawback is some appear to never organize their shelves so it can be something of a treasure hunt to find what you want.
- All purpose stores - Target, Walmart, etc.: Again, the selection varies by store and finding books for infants can be a bit of a challenge depending on the store but this might be someplace you’re going anyway so it’s worth a stroll through the book department to see what they have.
- Book Stores (especially the really big ones): Barnes & Noble & Borders in our area - yes they have tons of kid books. In fact, they usually have whole kid areas that are a great place to go. This does involve an extra stop (and an extra buckling in and out of that car seat) but this is really where you need to go if you want books the same day and want a large selection.
I personally love a visit to the bookstore - even with my son - but if you’re more an Internet shopper there are limitless options for books for kids.
- Children’s Book of the Month Club: This is a great option if you’re good at responding to those “featured selection” emails each month. They’ll give you a ton of books at a cheap price for signing up with the promise that you’ll buy a few at regular price in the next couple of years. They recommend books by age group and they have tons of those classics that you’ll remember from your own childhood. The only disadvantage is that you have to respond each month to the featured selection suggestion or they ship it automatically. This can all be done online though and with email reminders it only takes a couple of minutes.
- Amazon.com: This is an easy one. I love Amazon. They’ll give you discount shipping on most book orders over $25.00, they offer rush shipping, and then they’ll recommend books to you based on your buying history. Can’t go wrong here.
- Other online book sellers: Borders, Barnes & Noble, all the major sellers now have very easy to use websites that will ship your items right to your front door. A quick search of the topics you want will provide you with tons of titles and most have customer reviews so you can see what other parents think of the books.
- Almost any other major retail chain that I mentioned above will also have websites with a larger selection of books than the physical stores are likely to have.
If you belong to any parent newsletters the links on the website and in their emails will almost always have a “store” where you can search kids books and come up with tons of suggestions. Obviously, any search engine will also return you millions of results on buying kids books so if you’ve got a little time to sort through it that’s always an option.
That’s my short response. I’m glad my friends asked me about this though because there really isn’t a reason not to pick up books for your kids. If cost is an issue Amazon and many other online book sellers will have a used book marketplace where you can get books that are in great shape for next to nothing. Our local library (although it is pretty small) also has some kids books and does have a used book sale every year where we can pick up paperbacks for a quarter and hard cover books for fifty cents. Good luck and good reading!
