How to Acquire Children's Books for Less

Ever since my daughter was born two and a half years ago, I have been on a mission to acquire good children's books for her. Parenting magazines would keep saying read to your baby, read to your toddler, read, read, read! But I didn't have any children's books to read to her nor did I know what would make good purchases.

I asked friends and family what some good children's books were, and came up with many good titles, some new, some classic that I've already written about here: Baby & Toddler Book Recommendations.

When I had an idea of what children's books to get for my daughter, I visited Barnes & Noble's excellent children's section and fell in love with all the picture books on the shelves. But adding up the prices of several different children's books, I didn't really care for how much money I'd have to pay to collect books for my daughter through Barnes & Noble or other bookstores. Although I was disappointing that I could buy only one book for my daughter during our trip to the bookstore, I figured we'd collect them very slowly.

Shopping at T.J.Maxx one day I saw their children's book section, and started looking through the covers of books to see if any of them were good prices or ones I wanted for my daughter. There was one book that I had to buy, and it was not the regular retail price but about 20% off - definitely better than paying full price. I bought it, and occasionally check back there to see what else they've got for me. If a children's book regularly costs $6 at a bookstore the same book at T.J.Maxx might cost $4. I've bought only 2 or 3 books for my daughter there since the books there are quite random and change throughout the months.

When my daughter was a year old, I started frequenting thrift stores for clothes for her and found not only clothes but also children's books. Both my local Savers and Goodwill seem to always have a decent selection of children's books in good condition at extremely low prices; I have bought many, many different books from these stores for my daughter and spent approximately 10% of retail price for them.

My local Savers here in Lakewood, Colorado sells children's books for 49 cents each no matter if it's hardback or paperback, and despite the original price of the book.

My local Goodwill sells children's books for 49 cents per paperback and 99 cents for hardback, unless you happen to be shopping during one of their big sale days when all items in the store are half off. It's a great idea to visit Goodwill the night before a big sale to see what children's books you want to come back for the next day at half off. I have walked out of Goodwill many times feeling great about my children's book purchases.

Some libraries have book sales as well. Right now at least one of the Denver Public Libraries (Bear Valley Branch) has quite a few very nice children's picture books for sale at 50 cents each. I have bought 3 of them already, all in the same series, and spent a total of $1.50 for all three. The average retail price for these specific books is $13. Multiply that by 3 and the retail cost for all 3 of those books is approximately $39. And I paid a dollar fifty!

And of course, how can I not mention looking for children's books at yard and garage sales? I've found several popular children's books at yard sales for a quarter each!

I've spent very little money on children's books and my daughter's bookshelf is filling up nicely - remember she is only 2 1/2 years old. I am having a hard time containing my excitement with these great finds, which is why I had to write this article and encourage other parents or care givers out there who wish to acquire children's books to look away from expensive bookstores. Check local thrift and discount stores, libraries, and of course yard/garage sales. If you're on a mission to find children's books for less, now you know for sure they can be found.