How to 'Grow' a Library for Your Family


Having books to call their own, can inspire children beyond our imagination. Books should be a part of every child's life, and acquiring their own library can instill a sense of pride and respect that carries with them throughout their growing years.

I am an avid reader and I truly believe that having my own books, as a child, instilled that love early on.

I've watched my six children (ages 3-29) enjoy books on so many levels-from eating the cover, using them as ramps for hot wheels, tracing the pictures onto tracing paper and copying down the words, to reading them with pride and sharing them with others. They have dressed like the characters they were reading about and went on adventures that have leapt off the pages and fed their souls.

They get inspiration from the words and the pictures, then let their imaginations run wild!

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We have too many books to count. Every family member has their own books, we have a central library of books for everyone to enjoy, and we check out books from our local library. The library has also proven to be a great resource for borrowing DVD's; our library loans them for one week at a time, for free! They have thousands of titles to choose from, so I use the internet to make my requests and they are ready to be picked up in a day or so.

To build our collection of books, we have employed the ideas below... and have grown our own library:

1. Shop at thrift stores. Children's books are often priced between 10-25 cents each. Adult books usually range from 50 cents (for novels and such) to a couple of dollars for reference materials, text books, etc.

2. Visit your local library. Most offer reading programs with free books gifted to the children who participate. Also, most libraries sell books (adult and children's) for thrift store prices, when they are purging their shelves for various reasons.

3. For birthdays, request books as gift items. If the party has a theme, like princesses or Elmo, shopping for books to go along with the theme makes it easier for the gift giver and makes the party that much more memorable for your child.

4. Try to incorporate books into holiday traditions. For example, as a type of advent calendar, have 25 Christmas themed books available to count down the days. You can wrap them and number each one so that a 'surprise' book awaits them at the end of each day. When Christmas is over just pack up the books, with the decorations, to be enjoyed next year. I loved this idea, but didn't have 25 books until I went to a thrift store. There I found dozens! I spent less than $3.00 for our entire Christmas book collection. The same concept can be utilized for any holiday or special day your family celebrates.

5. Start or participate in a book swap. Get together with other families and have a book swapping party. This could be at your home, at church, a day care center, etc.. I recently took my children to a museum where they asked for the children to each bring a book they wanted to donate. They set up a room with tables that the children placed their books on and then they shopped for a 'new' book to bring home. You could even do this at work, with a simple book shelf set up in a break room with a sign, "Take a book, leave a book." The senior apartment building my dad lives in, has this type of book exchange set up in their recreation room.

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These ideas have worked well for us and I hope they can inspire you in your quest to grow a library. If you have a suggestion, we would love for you to share it with us! To read more about our family, please visit us at: FamilyLife4Kids.com