Children's books can be expensive, and many are age appropriate for only a
few years. If you want shelves full of brand-new books for your children to
read, you had better be ready to spend some serious dough. Many parents decide
to buy children's books used because–as with children's clothes–they are quickly
outgrown. Unfortunately, even when bought used, children's books can still be
expensive. Hopefully, these tips will ensure you always have enough money to buy
your kid's books.
1. Find Bulk Deals on Books
While you can get great deals on books at thrift stores and yard sales, you
can get even better deals if you buy in bulk. See a box of gently used
children's books at a yard sale? Instead of picking out a few at fifty cents
apiece, offer them five dollars for the box. Check with your local library to
see when they have their annual book sale. Often you can fill up a whole bag for
a few bucks. Also check thrift stores in your area or when traveling. Many will
offer bag deals that will allow you to get as many books as you can fit in a
plastic grocery bag for $3-7 dollars. Even if such a deal isn't posted, ask if
they ever hold such a sale.
2. Buy Books to Use and Trade
So you've found a bag sale. Make the most of it. Start with getting your bag.
Not all bags are created equal. If the sale has a box of bags for you to serve
yourself, take a couple seconds (not minutes) to look through the box. Plastic
bags from restaurants and clothing stores are bigger. If the sale offers you a
large paper bag for a couple bucks more, the paper is usually a much better
deal. Grab two bags and start filling.
There are a lot of great children's books out there. You can afford to be
picky.
However, at a bag sale, it is unlikely that you will be able to fill your
bag with books you want. I rarely find more than five books I want to keep. So
what to do with the rest of the space in your bag? Buy books that other people
will want.
Start with the children's section because that's what you came there for
anyway. Look for anything in reasonably good condition by Disney, Boynton,
Carle, Curio's George, Beginner Books (Cat in the Hat logo on spine), or
anything with a Movie/TV connection. Look also for board books in good
condition, especially if they have some unusual (and undamaged) feature.
In the hardcovers, don't buy anything without a dust jacket in reasonably
good shape. Also, don't buy anything that is a book club edition. These editions
are slightly smaller and virtually worthless (however, some authors like
Nicholas Sparks write shorter works that are always published in this size). As
a general rule, never buy a book that was withdrawn from library circulation
(contrary to popular opinion, library sales are usually comprised mostly of
donated books rather than withdrawn books). Nonfiction hardcovers will generally
be your most valuable finds, but there's a fickle art to picking out the right
ones.
3. Trade the Books You Don't Want
Take your unwanted books to a used bookstore. Since most towns have more than
one, go to the one with the nicest selection first. They probably won't take all
the books you bring them. Take the rejected ones to the next nicest etc.
This year I've bought four bags of books at a cost of $16 (two for $3 each,
two for $5 each). In the four bags, I got about twenty books I wanted (at less
than a dollar per book). In addition, I got about $100 worth of trade credit at
local bookstores.
Of course, most towns also have well stocked public library, but a personal
children's library can be a great help in teaching your children to love
reading.