My Three Favorite Used Book Finds

Hunting for used books is a passion of mine, though my tastes might not mesh with others. I run my own blog, reviewing the same young adult books I read as a child and teenager, including The Baby-Sitters Club, Sweet Valley High, and Fear Street books. In addition, I collect vintage cookbooks and have a shelf of those lining my kitchen. For me, the excitement comes from digging through bins at thrift stores, scouring the tables at flea markets, and jumping over teachers at yard sales, all to nab that great book.

Walt Disney's Goofy - The Good Sport

A local library ran a Friends of the Library book sale recently. Volunteers divided the books into classics, new releases, young adult, paperbacks, hardbacks, magazines, and a few other categories. The classic section was dismal at best. This year, the volunteers decided to use the classics section for books deemed more valuable than others.

If you wanted five copies of the same Nancy Drew title for $4 or more, you were in luck. After circling the stack, I caught a flash of red from the corner of my eye. Walt Disney's Goofy - The Good Sport stared back at me. As of December 2011 that same book sells for $9 in fair condition, up to $34 or more in good condition.

I happily paid the $2 price tag on the book. While I could sell the book for more than 10 times what I paid for it, I could also make a Goofy fan in my life a lot happier. I gleefully read through the book once, before setting it back as the perfect Christmas gift.

Good Housekeeping Cookbook

The Good Housekeeping cookbook from 1962 is a personal favorite because it is the same cookbook my mother received as a wedding gift. It is the same book I grew up reading and finding recipes in as a teenager. The book sat buried in a box of other cookbooks that were faded and peeling apart. The copy was in pristine condition, despite being 40 years old. I happily paid my 25 cents and went on with my day.

Sweet Valley High #1: Double Love

As a vintage young adult blogger, I discovered that finding the later books in different series was more difficult because the publishers released fewer books. Though I found a number of later books, I was most excited to find the first Sweet Valley High book, Double Love. It is the first book I read in the series and the book that hooked my teenage self.

I looked for the book for years and never found a copy. I ventured into a used bookstore full of moldy books and old college textbooks and thought about running for the door. When asked about teen books, the woman working the counter pointed to a box sitting under a wall of romance books. Most of the books were boring '70s era books, but at the very bottom sat Double Love. I encountered the book dozens of times since then, but nothing beats the very first time I saw it.