Building a Personal Library for Your Children

Books! Parents want their children to love books and most of us know that we need to read to our children from the beginning, we need to take them to the library, and we need to let them see us reading. In addition to these fine recommendations is one by Jim Trelease author of "The Read Aloud Handbook," he suggests that children need books of their own.

Pride of ownership is important for growing readers. Perhaps, he didn't suggest buying your children a library and maybe I do go overboard. But I remember digging through the bookshelves at home for books to read and how essential access to books of my own could be when I was bored. I believe that a house with lots of books lying around is more likely to grow a reader. My children have a massive collection of books and I built that collection for a surprisingly small amount of money. Three simple strategies will allow you to create a personal library for your children.

First, invest in a few good collections by authors you enjoy. It is worth it. You will be reading these books to your children for years! When my oldest was an infant, I was shopping at our membership co-op. They had boxed collections of A.A. Milne and of Beatrix Potter. While the collections weren't cheap, they were reasonable and I splurged on them as Christmas gifts figuring that a newborn wouldn't know the difference or care for that matter. They were worth it. The books have been read frequently over the years and I can rest in the knowledge that my children are familiar with the works of some classic children's literature.

It is also worthwhile to invest in a collection if it is an author or subject of particular interest to your child. When my oldest daughter was three she was an avid fan of Thomas the Tank Engine. Shortly before Christmas that year, we were at a used bookstore and found the complete collection of original Thomas texts and illustrations from Great Britain. We bought them. They have been well loved by both her and her younger sister. My husband and I are happy to have introduced them to the originals, which we feel are better written than subsequent books.

Second, get grandparents involved. Grandparents love to buy presents encourage them to buy books and inscribe them to your children. Their involvement accomplishes two things, it grows the library and it gives your child another example of adults who love books.

Third, don't snub thrift stores. Whatever you do, do not pass by thrift stores. Explore all the stores in your area and find out what kind of books you can expect to find on their shelves and at what prices. My favorite thrift store sells most children's books for 29 cents or 49 cents with an occasional $1.49 price tag on a particularly fancy picture book. Another thrift store clears out books in a bin at 10 for a $1.49. While it is tiresome to sort through the bins, I have found some real treasures in them including some wonderful reference books and great why books.

Now that you have a zillion books, how do you maintain them? Trelease has a wonderful suggestion of building shelves where books face foreword so that children can see the covers and thus are enticed to pick out the book and read it. It is a grand idea.

However, in our household, we've gone beyond all practical ability to do that. I have three levels or types of bookshelves in our house for the children's books.

One is an easy access shelf for books to read during the day. These books are board books for my youngest and how/why/reference books for my oldest.

The second is a closed cabinet with nicer picture books and children's literature this is the shelf we refer the children to for their nighttime reading and for special treat reading. When my children learn to read, this will be their goldmine.

The third is a collection of books for the children to graduate to, as they grow older. I cannot resist purchasing books that I recall with fondness from my childhood those books and others go on this shelf to tempt my little readers.

It is easy and fun to build an inexpensive library for your children, so don't waste anymore time!